


taste of strong coffee still in my mouth

by thewordsofalullaby



Category: Sense8 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2019-01-17 07:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12360738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewordsofalullaby/pseuds/thewordsofalullaby
Summary: Somehow he finds himself in a confrontation in the middle of a coffee shop, moments away from starting a fistfight with an asshole, all because the girl behind the counter is beautiful.(coffee shop AU; wolfgang/kala)





	1. Chapter 1

Kala isn’t exactly sure how she ended up stuck working a shift at the coffee shop on campus at eleven o'clock at night when she has a seemingly neverending list of coursework to finish, but here she is. She blames them all, she thinks: Lito for begging her to take the part-time job when he knew full well how many deadlines she had to meet and how stressed out she was right now (“Come on, hermana, it’ll be fun,” he had said, before turning and pouting at her, warm eyes wide. “Please? For me?”), Riley for innocently dragging her into a heated debate about the perceived health benefits of hash, getting her so worked up that she’d been pushed into the door of the coffee shop and into an interview before she had even begun to suspect what she was up to (“—It’s really interesting actually; there’s a lot of evidence that show that cannabinoids might be useful for pain modulation. I’ll have to send you some of the papers—wait, Riley, where are you going?”), and Will for just going along with it all and letting it happen (“Hey,” he had said, holding his hands up in mock-surrender once she’d come back, a look of exasperation on her face as she eyed the three of them, “don’t blame me! It was their idea! I didn’t do anything!” She had glared at him at that, knowing that the other two would have stopped if Will had intervened; out of the four of them, he had always proven himself to be the most level-headed one, the one that everyone listened to. “Exactly!”).

“Uh, hello? Are you deaf?”

Kala blinks, shaking her head slightly to bring herself back to reality. She blinks again, startled, as she’s greeted with the sight of a coffee cup being shaken in her face, taking a step backwards on instinct.

“I'm sorry,” she says, mentally chiding herself for allowing herself to get distracted before turning her full attention onto the man in front of her, biting her lip as she sees the obviously displeased expression on his face. “How can I help you?”

“How can you help me? Are you being serious right now?” The man asks, still shaking the cup in front of her face, almost growling at her as he leans over the counter. “This isn’t what I asked for.”

She bites her lip again, takes another step back. She’s never been great at confrontation; she’s always preferred to stay out of the limelight, her head buried in her books. She’s also never messed up an order before and she feels a twinge of irritation, quickly followed by embarrassment, for having made such a simple mistake.

“I’m sorry,” she tells him again, her eyes flicking towards the other side of the counter where Riley is for moral support, but the other girl is too preoccupied by the order she is currently preparing and hasn't noticed the commotion yet, “I’ll, um, I’ll make another one up. Just give me a few minutes, please.”

“Don’t bother,” the man snarls, rolling his eyes, “I’m not about to let you ruin my order again. Seriously, what kind of people are they hiring here now?”

Kala closes her eyes, forcing herself to take deep breaths as the man continues his outburst. On a day when she wasn’t so tired, she would have defended herself and politely asked the man to leave. Today though, she wants nothing more than to just _go home_ and sleep, and she can’t bring herself to do anything more except wordlessly listen to the man in front of her, hoping that he’ll run out of steam soon.

"—Calm the fuck down," a low voice interrupts minutes later, quiet but firm, "it was just a mistake.”

She slowly opens her eyes as the man falls silent and then quickly widens them as she realises that he’s now in an intense stare-off with another man, presumably the man who had just interrupted his rant. 

“This is none of your business,” he tells the man, now shaking the coffee cup in _his_ face, “This is between me and her. Stay out of it or you’ll regret it.”

Kala holds her breath, glancing back and forth between the two men, a sense of dread quickly building in her chest. This was all her fault. She never took the evening shift because she was always exhausted after her labs, but Lito had a date tonight and he had begged her to cover for him and, well, Lito could be very convincing when he wanted to be. All he had to do was to put his hands on her shoulders, widen his eyes and stare at her. (“Muchas gracias, hermana,” he had said, once she’d sighed and agreed, blowing a kiss at her, “I owe you one.”)

“Will I regret it?” The other man says, his tone amused, an eyebrow raised. He slowly crosses his arms, looking completely relaxed, not at all affected by the fact that he is inches away from being slapped across the face by a cup of coffee. “I don’t think I will.”

A beat passes, then two, then three.

...and then Kala's mouth drops open as the man throws the coffee forcefully at the other man, shooting him a triumphant, self-satisfied grin before walking out of the coffee shop and slamming the door shut.

“Fuck!”

“Oh my gosh!”

Kala quickly walks around the counter, grabbing a bunch of napkins and handing them wordlessly to the blonde man who is cursing rapidly in a foreign language that she can’t quite identify as he tries to dab at the wet patch on his shirt with his hands. He takes the napkins from her, gives her a curt nod without fully meeting her eyes, before doing his best to dry himself out.

“I’m really, really, really sorry,” she tells him earnestly, feeling immensely guilty, shifting her weight from side to side as she watches him.

“Don’t be,” he replies after a moment, raising his head slightly, giving her a small shrug. “It’s not your fault. That guy’s an asshole.”

“Well, it kind of was my fault,” she says quickly, starting to ramble because one, she’s always been a bit of a rambler and two, not only is she really very tired but now she can feel adrenaline flowing through her veins at what she’s just witnessed. "I mean, he did ask for a cappuccino with two sugars, semi-skimmed milk, two extra shots and cinnamon powder, and it's entirely my fault that I missed out the extra shots. I shouldn't even be working this shift – I _never_ work in the evenings usually – but Lito begged me to and I—" She stops suddenly, realising that the man in front of her is staring at her, his head tilted slightly to the side, a bemused expression on his face. "Sorry," she says, pulling a face, feeling her cheeks heating up as he continues to stare at her. "I think I’m just…tired. It's been a busy week, lots of deadlines."

He gives her a soft smile, shakes his head, and she’s suddenly struck by how broad he is and the paleness of his blue eyes. "None of it was your fault," he asserts again, and something in his gaze makes her - want to - believe him. He shoots her another small smile, before returning to patting himself dry again, his forehead furrowing slightly as he focuses on the job.

"I really am sorry,” she tells him, smiling despite herself as he lifts his head to frown at her, “I…Can I get you more napkins?”

He shakes his head, looking down at himself. “It’s fine,” he says, and she notes that she can barely see the stain anymore, hidden within the dark fabric of his shirt.

“What about a drink?” She asks, and flushes slightly at the eyebrow he raises, a smirk slowly appearing on his face. 

“A beer would be nice,” he replies, still smirking, “but failing that, a black coffee would be good.”

Kala nods at him and can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief at the simple order – a black coffee, she can do. She moves back around the counter to grab a cup, picking up a pen with her other hand, about to open her mouth to ask him his name but he beats her to it.

"Wolfgang."

 

* * *

 

Wolfgang has never understood how the world works and has never _wanted_ to understand. All he knows is that ever since he was young, he has been fighting for survival. He’s not sure why his life is like this – maybe he fucked up in some past life even more than he has in this life – but he’s learnt to live with it: learnt when to stand his ground and fight and when to run, learnt how to crack safes and steal the odd item to sell and stay alive, and learnt how to keep a low profile and not draw attention to himself. It had been alarmingly quiet in Berlin recently, an observation that had both him and Felix on edge, so much so that they had scrambled the money together for two flights to San Francisco – no return – and were currently hiding out in a cheap hostel. He’s been unable to sleep properly since he’s arrived due to a mixture of jetlag and paranoia; instead, he’s been spending most of his evenings on restless long runs around the city, his path taking him through numerous parks and ending at the coffee shop which he likes, partly because of the quality of their coffee beans and partly because of the loud Mexican barista who shares overly dramatic anecdotes from his life – without him asking – which are so exuberant that they manage to distract him from his own fucked up life, if only for a moment.

The day his routine changes takes him by surprise, just like most of the events in his life. It’d been a typical day for him: he’d woken up late, spent the day with Felix fielding calls from numerous people from Berlin and making plans for their next move, before grabbing some food at the local takeaway and heading out on his evening run. What wasn’t typical for him was somehow managing to get himself involved in a confrontation in the middle of a coffee shop, moments away from starting a fistfight with an asshole, all because the girl behind the counter – a girl who he was sure he had never seen before now; he’d remember – was _beautiful_. In retrospect, it isn’t exactly the smartest move he’s ever made, but he’s always been one to act on his instincts, something that Felix has always chided him for, and his instinct in that moment had told him to interfere and keep the girl safe. He thinks it’s worth it when he sees her relax and smile though, her eyes warm. He lets his fists unclench, takes the napkins she offers, and concentrates very hard on not following the idiot out of the door and making him pay for throwing his coffee all over his favourite black shirt. He shakes his head at her dismissively as she starts to apologise to him, because _really_ , she has nothing to be sorry for – she’s probably never done anything truly wrong in her life – and gives her a smile, tries to make it reassuring. ‘Reassuring’ is not exactly something that Wolfgang has ever pulled off well, but it seems to work and he ends up with a steaming black coffee pushed into his hands and her name stuck in the back of his head. _Kala_.

It’s stupid, he knows, but he can’t help feeling a little bit disappointed when he returns to the coffee shop the next evening and doesn’t find her there; instead, he’s greeted by Lito behind the counter, his hands already moving to make him his usual black coffee. 

“Wolfgang! Brother!” Lito greets, ever enthusiastic, and Wolfgang can’t stop the small smile that graces his face as he steps towards the counter. It’s only when he’s inches away from the man that he realises that he’s unusually happy, his eyes sparkling.

“You’re happy,” he notes, raising an eyebrow, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the counter as he watches him. 

“Sí,” Lito replies, with a nod. “I had a date yesterday.”

Wolfgang smirks at that, raises his eyebrows as Lito turns and grins widely at him. “Went well then?” He asks, though they both know the answer, and whilst Wolfgang doesn’t really know the man, just knows that he makes great coffee and tells great stories, he feels weirdly content at this piece of information.

Lito just laughs loudly, winks, but doesn’t reply with actual words. They fall into a comfortable silence for a few moments, before Lito suddenly remembers something, whipping his head away from the coffee he is currently making to look at him. “Riley told me that there was some commotion in here last night,” he says, eyeing him, a look of curiosity in his gaze. “With Kala?”

Wolfgang swallows, shrugs. “It was nothing,” he tells him, shrugging again. “Just an asshole making a scene.”

“Really?” Lito says, raising an eyebrow. Wolfgang doesn’t meet his eye, looking past him to stare at the wall, feeling suddenly uncomfortable underneath the other man’s inquisitive eyes. Lito doesn’t take the hint, just leans forward and lowers his voice into a conspiratorial whisper as he continues. “Are you sure it was nothing? Because ‘nothing' is not what Riley made it out to be,” he pauses, his gaze suddenly intense, scanning his face for something, “or Kala, for that matter.”

Wolfgang swallows again, shaking his head. He’s not entirely sure what Lito was looking for in his expression, but he seems to find it, his eyes growing softer in understanding. “Kala, she—She has a boyfriend,” Lito tells him, looking a touch apologetic.

“I didn’t ask,” Wolfgang replies immediately, defensively crossing his arms, his jaw tensing instinctively. He suddenly feels irritated for some reason, and he’s not sure why. It’s not like he’s _surprised_ by this revelation – she’s gorgeous and he’s well aware that he can’t be the first man to think so – and, besides, it’s not like ‘boyfriends’ have ever stopped him from pursuing a woman before.

"Wolfgang, brother," Lito starts, his voice solemn, and somehow he knows that the other man knows exactly where his thoughts are heading. “Kala's family and if you hurt her, I will…I will hurt you."

Wolfgang blinks at that, can't stop the smirk that starts to form as he watches Lito curl his hands into fists. Lito stares back at him for a second, then coughs, awkwardly running his hands through his hair. "Okay, maybe not hurt you," he corrects quickly, knowing that they're both fully aware who would win if they ever fought, "but you would...not get free coffee again?"

Wolfgang raises an eyebrow, the smirk now clear on his face. “You have never given me free coffee,” he states bluntly, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes a fraction.

“Well, no, I haven’t,” Lito agrees, before shooting him a grin that is so earnest that it makes him want to go along with _anything_ the man says, “But…you can have this one for free?”

Wolfgang laughs a little at the man’s antics, but nods anyway. "Okay, okay," he says, lifting his hands up slightly in mock exasperation, before adopting a serious tone, "I won't hurt her, I promise."

He’s not a liar; he never has been. Felix has (silently) theorised on multiple occasions that it’s because everyone in his life has lied to him – his father, his cousins, his uncle – and he’s not like them, but Wolfgang just thinks it’s simply because he knows he’s shit at lying so he doesn’t bother trying. Regardless, he means it when he tells Lito he’s not going to hurt her.

At least, not purposefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you think! i'm a little rusty, but i tried! :)


	2. Chapter 2

Kala knows she's in trouble as soon as Riley turns to her, a mischievous look on her face. They're in the library with Will, supposedly studying, but she has yet to see Riley lift a pen or flip a page in her textbook. Instead, Riley's been sitting with her headphones on for the past hour, her head on the desk, eyes closed as she softly sings to herself. Kala doesn't mind the noise (Will _definitely_ doesn't mind) – she's always found it difficult to work in complete silence and Riley's voice is soothing – but she does wonder why Riley is even here, if not to study.

"He was checking you out, you know?" Riley says, tugging her headphones off her ears for a moment, her mouth forming a teasing smile. "That guy in the coffee shop."

Kala doesn’t reply at first, just frowns, her mind conjuring up the image of _‘that guy’_ before she can stop it. "Riley," she warns, as she forces herself to redirect her attention to her work, twirling the pencil she’s holding in her hand. "He really wasn't. He was just...helping me with a difficult customer."

She finds herself holding her breath as she waits for Riley to respond, her hands occupied with drawing out chemical structures onto the page in front of her. Except...she doesn’t get a reply. She frowns to herself, raising her head up to look at her, her frown growing deeper when she realises that her and Will are engaged in some sort of silent conversation about her, their hands flying wildly in a very theatrical, very _Lito_ -like fashion. She must have been really engrossed in her work to miss this.

"--Will, Riley, would one of you please tell me what's going on?"

Kala smiles, feeling a little smug as they both jump, clearly taken by surprise, Will almost falling out of his chair.

"Nothing," Riley replies, quickly schooling her features into something neutral. She meets her gaze, shrugs. "Just...I didn't say anything about Wolfgang."

"What?"

"Before," Riley explains, eyes teasing once more, "I just said someone from the coffee shop was checking you out. I didn't say anything about Wolfgang." 

Kala swallows, realises her mistake. It's odd, really, but she hasn't been able to forget his face, even though she'd been in his presence for no more than fifteen minutes. She did read a study recently though which linked adrenaline to memory formation so maybe she's just remembering his face so clearly because of the drama that surrounded their encounter. 

"He was definitely checking you out," Riley tells her again, breaking her out of her thoughts. "You should stop by the coffee shop during the evenings sometime and talk to him; he's always there with Lito." 

Kala doesn't reply, steadfastly staring at the problem sheet in front of her.

"She should, right?" Riley asks, turning to Will, who just nods and agrees because he's never been able to say no to her. "It would be fun--"

"--You know I have a boyfriend, right?" Kala interrupts, a little harsher than she intended.

The two of them exchange glances.

"Well, we've never met him—"

"—Because he's back home!"

“—And you never talk about him. We just figured that…”

They trail off, both looking a little sheepish. She stares at them, her mind working overtime, before it hits her.

“—Wait a second, you think I _made Rajan up_? Why would I do that?” Kala exclaims, gaping at them, eyebrows raised indignantly, now standing and pacing around the room. She’s not sure whether she’s more frustrated at what they're implying, or that she recognises that there’s a glimmer of truth in what they’re saying. It’s not that she had been _purposefully_ avoiding bringing Rajan up, but Rajan is back at home in India and she hasn’t seen him – or, really, spoken to him – in months. It’s not a big deal; he’s busy, she’s busy.

“Hey, no, Kala, uh, no-one’s saying that,” Will says hastily, leaning forward in his chair, jumping into action, his voice calm, trustworthy. “We believe you, I swear.”

“We do,” Riley says, reaching forward and taking her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I promise. When he visits, you should invite him over one day so we can meet him.”

Kala bites her lip hard, but allows Riley to pull her into a group hug anyway. “Family!” Lito exclaims, suddenly appearing at the doorway and grinning widely, oblivious to the atmosphere in the room. “What did I miss?” It takes him two seconds before he’s barrelled in their direction and flopped himself on top on them. Kala groans inwardly at the added weight, but leans deeper into the embrace. They can be impossible sometimes, but she knows she'd be worse off without them.

She hasn’t quite forgotten about the conversation when she reaches her computational lab later that afternoon, getting increasingly irritated at herself for even continuing to think about it; for some reason, the more she tries not to think about it, the more it replays in her head. What is most frustrating to her is that there are no valid reasons for thinking about it (him) and instead, there are a thousand reasons why she _shouldn’t_ be: she doesn’t know him, she has a boyfriend (albeit one that is on an entirely different continent, but still), her friends are idiots, she has a million assignments to finish and— _stop_. She huffs out a sigh as she throws herself in front of her usual computer, loading up her script irritably.

The girl sitting next to her, Nomi, raises an eyebrow, visibly flinching as Kala punches out several commands on the keyboard. “Okay, what’s up?”

Kala doesn’t reply and continues hitting the keyboard until the girl next to her tugs it away from her, looking as if she physically felt every jab of the keys herself. “Talk to me,” she says, pushing her glasses up her nose slightly, giving her a patient, open look.

Kala sighs, but reluctantly starts talking, feeling instantly a little bit lighter as she retells the events of her day, from when Lito woke her up in a panic at three in the morning because he couldn’t find his left sock (which, it turns out, was inside his right shoe) to the conversation – no, interrogation – she’d had with Will and Riley in the library.

“Well, _I_ know he’s real,” Nomi states assuredly once she’s done talking, pursing her lips. “Your boyfriend, I mean. Rajan.”

Kala stares at her, feeling oddly satisfied and reassured, but then it hits her that if Will and Riley weren’t sure of Rajan’s existence, why would Nomi be? She likes Nomi, she does, but they have never hung out outside of the lab and she doesn’t really know anything about her, except that she probably – definitely – knows more about programming than the professor. (“Why are you even taking this class?” Kala had asked one day, staring at the computer screen in front of her in despair. She had always been much more of an experimentalist, preferring to be in the wet lab surrounded by flasks and beakers than staring at computer screens, but there were some concepts she wished to simulate and to simulate, she needed to learn how to program. “I mean, you clearly know all the material already.” Nomi had just grinned, her eyes not leaving her screen as she shrugged. “Easy credit,” she had said simply, her fingers moving fast over the keyboard. “Plus, I get to use the computers here to carry out some of my, uh, own projects.” To this day, Kala wasn’t entirely sure what she had meant by that and wasn’t sure she really wanted to know.)

"How?"

“I just…know,” Nomi replies evasively, steadily avoiding meeting her eyes as she moves her gaze towards her computer screen. Kala frowns again and then narrows her eyes, squinting at the other girl as she remembers the multiple occasions when she's glanced absentmindedly over at Nomi's screen to see windows filled with pictures of people and what she thinks looks suspiciously like bank statements.

“Wait a second,” she says, eyeing her, “you looked me up, didn’t you?”

Nomi shrugs, doesn’t confirm nor deny it, but it’s all Kala needs to know for sure. She narrows her eyes further, shifting her chair slightly closer, feeling a spark of satisfaction running down her spine as Nomi turns to her, looking a little alarmed.

“I can’t believe you looked me up!” Kala exclaims, her eyes wide, “I mean, I’m sure it’s easy for you to do but…but it’s my life! It’s _private_!”

“Don’t take it personally,” Nomi says, hurriedly continuing as she sees Kala open her mouth in outrage again. “I look everyone up,” she says, giving her a shrug, “I’m an all-access kind of girl…but, uh, don’t worry, I didn’t find anything incriminating. Your life’s pretty uneventful, as far as lives go.”

Kala blinks.

“ _Uneventful_?”

“Well, yeah. I didn’t find any evidence of a criminal record or suspicious bank transfers,” Nomi says lightly, raising her hands away from the keyboard to gesture aimlessly in the air, as if it’s a common thing that she stumbles across, “but I did find proof of a boyfriend. Which is why I know he’s real.”

Kala stares, feeling a little dazed.

“It’s not my fault, you know,” Nomi tells her, looking at her reproachfully. “People are just too careless with their privacy settings nowadays and the information’s too easy to find.” Kala bites her lip, still silent, not really sure what to say, split between being slightly terrified and _in awe_ of the girl sitting beside her. “A piece of advice though: don’t worry so much about what other people think; what matters in the end is you. It’s your life, don’t let other people dictate it.”

 

* * *

 

Wolfgang tries his absolute hardest not to think about Kala but for some unknown reason, even though Lito had warned him not to hurt her, the man starts slipping her name into every conversation they have (or maybe Lito’s always talked about her like this and he just hasn’t noticed until now): 

“You know, if Kala was here—”

“Kala always tells me that I should—”

“I was running my lines through with Kala when—”

He does his best to ignore it at first, forces himself not to think about her warm eyes and soft curls – word on the street is that his uncle has figured out that Felix and him are in San Francisco and he really has more important things to think about, such as how to _stay_ _alive_ – but then Lito casually mentions that Kala always takes the early morning shift and suddenly he’s waking up at six o’clock in the morning for the first time in his life and itching for a coffee (or a beer). He resists going to the coffee shop though; instead, he just lounges on the armchair in the corner of the dingy hostel room he’s sharing with Felix, staring at peeling paint on the wall until it’s time for breakfast.

Felix takes an impressive three whole days of this behaviour before he cracks.

“Wolfie, what the hell is up with you? You’re awake at six in the morning? _Again_?” 

Wolfgang doesn’t reply, just continues staring at the wall. For as long as he has known him, Felix has always been the first one out of the two to wake - even if he's wildly hungover from the night before - and this out-of-character behaviour is unnerving.

“Wolfgang, hey,” Felix says, a touch of concern in his voice as he moves towards him and crouches in front of him, reaching forward to firmly shake him by the shoulders. “What’s going on? Is it your uncle?”

Wolfgang shakes his head. “No,” he tells him, slowly moving his gaze to meet Felix’s. "Not entirely," he corrects, because yes, that is another problem. "It’s just… it’s stupid. I’m fine.”

Felix rolls his eyes, continues to shake him. “You’re a shitty liar, Wolfie,” he tells him, as he has done a million times before. “You know this, I know this, the whole of fucking Berlin knows this.”

Wolfgang sighs deeply. He’s a shit liar, yes, but Felix is unbelievably stubborn. Stubborn enough that Wolfgang knows he isn’t about to let this go until he knows the truth. (Deep down, he knows that Felix’s stubbornness is one of the reasons why they are still friends, brothers. After his mother died, he thought he was going to be alone for the rest of his life – it’s what his father told him between drinking and more _drinking_ – but Felix had been stubborn enough to push his way into his life and had remained there ever since. He’ll always be grateful, even if he’d never admit it out loud.) 

“I met a girl,” he eventually admits, with another sigh, “at the coffee shop.”

“And what?” Felix prods, with both his words and a sharp, well-placed elbow to his side, looking irritatingly smug that he’s finally managed to get some coherent words out of him, “She turned you down?”

Wolfgang shakes his head. “No,” he says, choosing his words carefully. “It wasn’t like that. I didn’t ask.”

Felix frowns. "Why?”

Wolfgang shakes his head again. “I don’t even know her,” he says, with a short laugh, tensing his jaw. Felix stares at him at that, an almost comical look of confusion on his face as if he doesn’t recognise the person sitting right in front of him. He thinks he should probably be a touch offended at his reaction, but he's just as confused as Felix. 

"You, Wolfie, are in need of some serious assistance," Felix announces after a few minutes, a mischievous look growing on his face as he swiftly grabs Wolfgang’s arm, pulling him up from the chair and pushing him out of the door. "And who better to help you then Felix Berner, master wingman?”

He’s out of breath by the time they reach the coffee shop, his half-hearted attempts to stop Felix in his tracks failing. Felix, on the other hand, is buzzing with energy and looks more excited than he’s been in weeks and Wolfgang can’t bring himself to be annoyed at him.

Yet.

"Felix, no—" Wolfgang says, gritting his teeth as Felix suddenly pushes past him and starts walking straight through the door. "Wait, don't. Come back. Fuck." 

Felix just shoots him a grin over his shoulder and laughs at the rapid cursing that follows. He didn’t think that Felix would actually _go inside_ , just thought he’d stare at Kala through the window and laugh at him and—Fucking Felix. Why the fuck did he think it was a good idea to bring him here? He sighs loudly, glancing up at the sky for a moment and uttering one final swear word before following Felix inside.

"Hello there," Felix says in accented English as he reaches the counter, shooting the girl standing there the most charming grin he can muster, "you're Kala, right?"

Kala blinks, slowly raises an eyebrow. "Yes," she says, gesturing towards the pin attached to her shirt. "That is what it says on my badge."

"Good," Felix replies, giving her a nod. "I believe you know my friend Wolfgang?" He cocks his head to the side where Wolfgang is now standing, torn between wanting to kill Felix (slowly, painfully) and wanting to reassure Kala that he's - they're - not completely insane.

Kala twists her head to meet his eyes, her gaze softening a little as recognition hits. "Yes. Well, no. I mean…Kind of?" She swallows, cheeks flushing, and Wolfgang can do nothing but just stare at her. "What's going on?"

Felix turns to him, ignoring Kala’s question and the fact that she is standing right in front of them. “Wolfie, she’s hot. Like really hot,” he tells him in a low, _very audible_ , voice, as if he didn’t already know that fact. “You really didn’t ask her for her number? You’re losing your touch, Wolfgang. Maybe it’s the lack of good German beer in this town. We should go out tonight, get drunk. What do you say?”

“Felix, that’s enough,” he interrupts after Felix’s one-sided conversation has gone on for long enough and it’s clear that his intense glowering at the man isn’t doing any good. He turns to Kala, running a hand through his hair, feeling suddenly uncomfortable as silence falls; it’s not a familiar emotion, and he doesn’t like it. “I’m sorry,” he tells her as he grabs Felix roughly by the back of his neck, smirking as Felix yelps in response. “Felix here is fucking crazy. Ignore him.”

Kala stares at the scene in front of her, eyebrow raised, clearly perplexed. “Um, okay,” she replies. She glances back and forth between the two of them, her mouth opening and closing several times as if she wants to say something and then changes her mind. Eventually, she settles for a quickly spoken “I really have to get back to work”, and then, a quieter, mumbled “I, um, I have a boyfriend. Back home.”

Wolfgang tenses his jaw, nods. “Yeah,” he says slowly to the latter, “Lito said.”

Kala squints at him, mouth falling open, and Wolfgang can’t stop a smile from gracing his face as she starts waving her arms at him. “He said _what?_ Why would he— Why were you even talking about me?”

Wolfgang shrugs. He doesn’t really know the answer to that either. “We talk about a lot of things,” he ends up telling her, “Well, Lito does. I listen.”

“—Wolfie, you’re really telling me that you would refuse her number if she gave it to you?”

Wolfgang turns to glare at the unwelcome interruption, tightening his grip on the back of Felix’s neck. Felix just stares right back at him, his eyes challenging, baiting, and _damn it_ , Felix knows him well enough to know exactly how to manipulate him. He purses his lips, runs a few different scenarios in his head, before deciding that fuck, he’s here now so he might as well be honest. (Besides, he’s pretty sure that if he did try to lie, Felix would call him out immediately.) 

"No, I wouldn't," he finally says, lifting his head to catch Kala's gaze. He clears his throat. "From the moment I first saw you, I--"

He doesn't get to finish his thought, suddenly jostled by the growing line of people building up behind him and Felix. He knows what he was about to say, the words still on the tip of his tongue, and he thinks that somehow Kala must too. She's not meeting his eyes, staring just past his head, her cheeks flushed and hands fidgeting around the cup she's holding. He sighs, curses himself in his head for opening his mouth and turns to leave, dragging Felix with him.

He’s one step away from the counter when he feels soft fingers curling around his wrist, tugging back. He glances over his shoulder, gaze questioning, and Kala instantly releases his wrist, her cheeks still flushed.

"You don't want your coffee?" She asks, reaching out to push the drink she had been preparing whilst they were bickering into his hand. "Here, take it."

He blinks, surprised. A quick glance downwards tells him that it's strong, black coffee, just the way he likes it. It’s a simple gesture, but he doesn’t think anyone, except maybe Felix when he’s in a particularly good mood, has ever made him a drink before without him asking for it first. Felix follows Wolfgang's gaze, pulling a face as he turns back to Kala. "Hey, where's mine?"

Kala just shrugs innocently. "You didn't order anything," she tells him, laughing lightly at his subsequent protests that Wolfgang didn't either. "Maybe next time," she says, meeting Wolfgang's eyes with a grin. He grins back, nods, and then pushes Felix - who is now cursing in rapid-fire German at the top of his lungs - out of the door before he can cause any more trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope this was okay! rest of the cluster will be making an appearance soon :)
> 
> (ps - anyone else getting super hyped up for the special episode?)


	3. Chapter 3

Kala thinks a lot about the piece of unsolicited advice Nomi had given her that week: to not care so much about what other people think and to just live her life the way she wants. It’s perceptive enough that it makes her wonder just how much of her life Nomi has seen (and she makes a mental note to tighten her privacy settings, even though she suspects Nomi could break through them in a matter of seconds). Ever since they were young, her sister’s always told her that she’s too sensitive, too much of a people pleaser, constantly going out of her way to make other people happy, even if it inconveniences her. She’s always hated hearing it, always bit her lip and shrugged it off, but deep down, part of her recognises that it’s probably not entirely wrong. Accepting a university offer all the way in _America_ was one of the first decisions she had ever made solely for herself, but even then, she’s not completely sure if she would have actually packed her bags and gotten on a plane if it wasn’t for Rajan.

When her parents had first realised that she had applied to study abroad and then received an offer, they had been absolutely devastated; devastated enough that Kala didn’t sleep for days, staring blankly at the ceiling for hours on end as she tried desperately to figure out what the best thing to do was. She wanted to go to San Francisco – the medicinal chemistry program there was excellent – but she also didn’t want to hurt them.

“You should go,” Rajan had told her firmly, when she had voiced all these conflicting thoughts to him. At this point in time, he was still just a friend, though she was already beginning to suspect that he was so patient with her, so _kind_ , because he had feelings for her – or, at least, that is what her sister told her in between giggling unsubtly at them.

“But my parents…”

Rajan just smiled, shook his head. “It’s a great opportunity, Kala,” he had said, and he sounded so confident and sure about it that it made her nod along as well. “They’ll understand.”

It took six days before she finally managed to summon the courage to let her parents know her decision (Rajan had accompanied her for support, even though she hadn’t explicitly asked him to), six weeks before Rajan had asked her out, and six months before she got on a plane and left for San Francisco. She’s always cared a lot for Rajan – he’s always been so _good_ to her, with her), but she’s also very aware that his feelings for her are much greater than hers are for him. He tells her constantly that he’d do anything for her – the _love of his life_ – and whilst she feels immensely guilty for even thinking it, she’s not entirely sure she would do the same for him. He makes her happy enough though and her parents approve of him wholeheartedly (she doesn’t think she’s ever seen them happier than the day she told them that she'd agreed to start dating Rajan), and she thinks that’s enough.

…Except now they’re on two separate continents and they rarely speak and she’s not really sure where they stand anymore—

“—Kala?”

She blinks, then smiles softly, as she sees one of her favourite people standing in front of her, beaming at her as he always does. From what she has gathered from his stories, Capheus has been coming to the coffee shop ever since it opened. He never orders anything though, claiming that he can’t afford to buy a beverage every day; instead, he just stops by every morning to talk to her and watch people get on with their lives. (“People are so interesting,” he had mused to her one day, grinning as he stared out of the window, watching complete strangers file into the shop. “Don’t you think?”) Kala doesn’t mind; if anything, having him around helps her get on with her job, his eternal optimism never failing to take her mind off looming deadlines and exam-related stress.

“Kala, are you okay?” Capheus is looking at her, his smile faltering slightly as he studies her expression.

“I’m fine,” she tells him, giving him a reassuring look, “I promise.”

Capheus nods, then tilts his head, shooting her a curious look. “Are you sure?” He starts, almost a little hesitant, “because I was in here after work the other day and Lito told me that there was some sort of commotion. He said coffees were thrown around and everything!”

She blinks.

“Lito needs to stop talking,” she tells him, with a sigh, though it’s not without affection.

“Yes, he probably should,” a voice replies, except the voice is not Capheus’, but Wolfgang’s. Kala twists to see him standing at the counter as well, his expression unreadable, dressed head-to-toe in black as always. She offers him a soft smile in greeting, though his mere presence makes her heart beat a touch faster. She’s just…not quite able to figure out what his motives for being here are. His very loud, brash friend had hinted that he had wanted to ask her out and he had seemed to want to in that moment (she’s pretty sure she knows how his ‘ _from the moment I saw you…’_ was going to end), but since then, he’s been nothing but respectful – distant, even – simply coming into the shop every morning and asking for a black coffee. He always leaves looking like he wants to say something more, but he never does, just purses his lips and shakes his head at himself. (If she’s honest, she’s grateful for it; she’s not exactly sure how she would react if he really did try to ask her out.) 

“Isn’t the weather amazing today?” Capheus asks him, oblivious to the silence that has fallen, shooting him that trademark smile of his, gesturing at the window with one hand.

Wolfgang raises an eyebrow, looks more than a little awkward, and Kala fights the urge to laugh at the expression on his face. She doesn’t think she’s ever seen anyone so clearly uncomfortable about engaging in small talk.

“Uh, sure,” he replies eventually, when it becomes clear that Capheus is waiting for an actual, _vocalised_ answer from him.

Capheus grins at him in response, then starts asking him about his life, what he does, and everything in between (“Your accent: it’s German, right? You’re from Germany? Whereabouts? What are you doing all the way here in San Francisco? What’s Germany like? I’ve always wanted to go!”) Wolfgang just stares back at him, brow furrowing slightly, looking more and more uncomfortable by the second as Capheus’ barrage of questions continues. Kala can’t help but laugh out loud at this, but decides to rescue him; if only because Capheus’ one-sided interrogation is making _her_ dizzy as she struggles to keep up.

“Capheus, let him breathe,” she tells him gently, giving him a kind smile. Capheus has the grace to look embarrassed, but then glances down at his watch and realises the time. "Oh, I have to go!" He tells Kala, though he's already halfway out of the door, "my bus isn't going to drive itself!" 

She watches him leave fondly, before turning back to Wolfgang, her hands already moving to start making him his usual black coffee. She smiles a little as she notes that he’s still looking shell-shocked, dazed even.

“So…you’re from Germany?”

He nods, slowly, his eyes focusing onto her face again, gaze intense.

“Berlin.”

 

* * *

 

Wolfgang's not a complete idiot: he knows that a girl like her would never – _should never –_ go out with a guy like him, but it doesn’t stop him from returning to the coffee shop day after day. Felix tells him that he’s being fucking pathetic, rolls his eyes at him, and tells him to just man up and ask her for her number, boyfriend be damned. He doesn’t though, manages to restrains himself from doing something he’ll likely regret, especially since he's still got _diamonds_ stashed away in the minibar and he knows for a fact that his uncle is coming after him for it. She’s beautiful, and innocent, and everything that he wouldn’t normally look for in a woman, but there’s just something about her that makes him keep waking up at six o'clock in the morning and going to see her. He never says much to her, except for a simple ‘hi’ and ‘thank you’, but then he catches her one day when she’s in the midst of chatting with a man...and then that man is talking to _him_ as if they’re the best of friends, and his resolve breaks.

“Are you a student here as well? At the university?” She asks him, once he’s told her that _yes_ , he is from Germany. He laughs at that thought, shakes his head.

“No,” he tells her honestly, with a shrug, “I’m—I was never great at school. Always hated studying.”

Kala frowns at that statement, looks as if she doesn’t completely understand how that can even be possible, and he quickly realises why as she begins to talk again. She’s _smart_ , studying chemistry, and she starts rambling on about how she wants to work for a pharmaceutical company in the future and help discover new drug candidates for neurological disorders before he even has the chance to try to understand what the hell she is talking about. He doesn’t interrupt her though, just lets her talk, if only because her voice is weirdly soothing and, well, he has nothing better to do. She realises he’s not entirely keeping up about ten minutes into her monologue though, stopping abruptly as she eyes him, her forehead creasing slightly.

“I’m sorry,” she tells him, cheeks flushing, shaking her head, then realises she’s been holding his finished coffee in her hands whilst she’s been talking and apologises again. “I tend to talk a lot.”

He offers her a soft smile, shrugs. “It’s okay, I don’t mind,” he says, as he gently takes the coffee from her, tugging it from her fingers; it’s a bit lukewarm now, but he doesn’t really care. If he’s honest, he’s never really given a damn about science (the little he understands about the world is already confusing enough), but she’s clearly so passionate about it that it almost makes him want to reconsider his stance. She smiles at him in response – a genuine, wide smile – and he feels a pang in his chest because, _damn it_ , she is so—

“—What are you doing in San Francisco then? Do you work here?” She asks him, interrupting his thought process.

He blinks, purses his lips, shifting uncomfortably on the spot. He’s not sure what the best way to say _I’m on the run from my uncle because I stole a bunch of diamonds_ is so instead, he settles for a vague “family business”, gives her a dismissive shrug, and breathes an inward sigh of relief as she doesn’t push it any further than that.

“Do you like it here?”

He shrugs again. “It’s alright,” he tells her, then adds honestly, “I haven’t really had the chance to explore properly.”

Kala gapes at him a bit at that, looking a touch horrified as she shakes her head at him, before starting to tell him about all the tourist attractions that he _must_ go and visit when he has the time. He just smiles in response as he listens to her speak, but it comes out a bit tight, forced, because he knows that visiting a tourist attraction isn’t exactly in the cards for him; probably will never be. He’s not sure if she picks up on this, but if she does, she doesn’t mention it, just continues talking at him.

When he finally drags himself away and makes it back to the hostel, he can tell that Felix is awake by the amount of rattling and cursing he can hear coming from the bathroom. Wolfgang sighs, already opening his mouth to tell him to _shut up_ before he has even acknowledged his arrival, knowing what is about to come next.

“Wolfie, you’re really fucked this time,” Felix tells him, as he sticks his head out of the door, giving him an incredulous look; even if he wasn’t still holding a (now-empty) coffee cup in his hand, he knows that Felix would have guessed exactly where he had been this morning immediately. “Why is it that half our troubles always seem to start with a pretty girl?”

Wolfgang purses his lips and doesn’t reply; instead, he just twists around and swiftly throws the cup he’s holding at his head, smirking as Felix yelps in response, quickly ducking. It misses him, but only just. He moves to the sofa, lying back on it, staring at the ceiling, doing his best to ignore the stream of very creative profanities now coming from Felix’s mouth that are being aimed at him. Felix is right, he probably _is_ fucked, but he thinks he’d probably be fucked even if he hadn’t stumbled into the coffee shop that night and saved her from an asshole. He’s not stupid; he knows that it’s not going to take long before someone from Berlin finds them, but he hasn’t quite figured out what to do about it yet. 

“Wolfgang,” Felix calls, his voice a little softer now as he reaches the sofa, reaching out and clapping him on the face. “What are we going to do?”

Wolfgang sighs, shrugs. “I don’t know,” he tells him bluntly, and it’s enough for Felix to gape and stare at him in horror. He forces his eyes shut at that, feeling guilt pool up in his chest: Felix didn’t ask for this; any of this. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Felix is nothing if not persistent though and in the end, Felix manages to convince him that the solution is to go and find a nightclub, get wasted, and forget (“It’s the answer to all life’s problems,” Felix proclaims, and he says it so conclusively that Wolfgang wants to believe him and he eventually agrees). He’s pretty sure it’s not the smartest move they’ve ever made, considering that they’re supposed to be _in hiding_ , but having a beer (or two, or three) sounds really attractive to him right now and Felix is clearly going a little stir-crazy at being cooped up for so long. The nearest club they manage to find to where they’re staying is some sort of salsa bar, but it serves cheap drinks, it’s full of people and the music is loud enough to stop them from getting lost in their own thoughts. They exchange glances, shrug at each other and decide to stay.   

He’s about halfway through his second beer, relishing the familiar taste in his mouth (it’s not as good as German beer, of course, but it’s better than nothing), silently listening to Felix trying to chat up the two girls standing next to them when he suddenly pauses, squints. He thinks he spots Lito in the crowd on the dancefloor – no, that’s _definitely_ Lito – and with Lito is a whole bunch of people, one of whom is Kala; he’s not one to believe in fate but seriously? Felix tears his eyes away from the girls when he realises that Wolfgang’s staring into space, rolling his eyes as he realises what he’s looking at. He moves to shove him in their direction, but by this point Lito has already spotted him, bounding towards him energetically, arms outstretched.

“Wolfgang, hello!” Lito greets, as he reaches forward to clap him on the back. The man is clearly more than a little bit tipsy, but his grin is as welcoming as always; it makes Wolfgang smile despite himself, and he can’t help but wonder what it’s like to be so _free_. “Do you want a drink?” Lito asks him, then tilts his head, starts talking again before Wolfgang has a chance to open his mouth and refuse the offer. “I’ll buy you a drink.”

It’s not long before he ends up with his half-finished beer still clasped in his left hand and a tequila shot courtesy of Lito pushed into his other hand. “Cheers, brother,” Lito tells him, as he clinks the shot glass he’s holding with his and then downs it, gesturing for him to do the same. Wolfgang shrugs, follows, eyes sliding shut momentarily as he tips it back. Once his glass is empty, Lito grabs him by the shoulder, attempting to push him towards the dancefloor; except the people there are dancing _salsa_ and it’s not really the type of dancing that Wolfgang really wants to engage in when he’s still pretty damn sober. He resists the attempts, shakes his head, and Lito pouts at him but eventually lets it go, disappearing back into the crowd with a flourish, catching the eyes of most of the girls – and guys – in the room.

“He’ll try again,” a voice says to his left, and he turns to see Kala, smiling softly at him as she leans against the table. He swallows, forcing himself not to think too hard about the red dress she's wearing and the way she's looking at him. “You’re not going to get away that easily.” He frowns at her at that, and she just laughs. “Lito absolutely loves salsa,” she tells him, with an affectionate smile, “and he’s very convincing when he wants to be.”

Wolfgang’s not really sure how to respond, so he just shakes his head a little, takes another sip of his beer. They sit in silence for a few moments, before Kala pipes up again, shifting slightly, moving her weight from one foot to the other. “Can I get you something?” She asks, biting her lip, looking almost surprised at her own words. “Another beer?”

He gives her a smile at that, runs his hand over the neck of his bottle, forcing himself to focus on the coolness of the glass underneath his fingertips. “I think that should really be my line,” he tells her after a beat, then notices that her own hands are empty and shoots her a questioning look. She shakes her head at his unspoken question, and he nods in response, tipping the rest of the beer smoothly down his throat. She’s staring at him as he does it, he can _feel it_ , her eyes warm and intense as they carefully track his movements, and suddenly— 

“—I need to get some air,” he says abruptly, standing up from his chair. He pauses then, hurriedly gets his next words out before he has a chance to take them back, feeling the alcohol in his veins starting to have some effect. “You’re welcome to join me, if you want.”

Kala glances at him, clearly surprised, but then her expression turns into a frown as she looks down at the table, suddenly unsure; hesitant. He’s quick to realise what she must be thinking, especially since he can vaguely hear Felix hooting at him from across the room (“Get it, Wolfie!” He fights the urge to turn around and tell him to _fuck off_ , just because he knows it'd probably scare her off even more.) He takes a slow step forward, places his fingers under her chin and gently lifts her head up until he’s meeting her gaze.

“I’m not going to try anything, I swear,” he tells her honestly, and she bites her lip in response, her eyes wide. “I’m just getting some air.”

She doesn’t say anything, doesn’t move, but he can tell that she’s still uncomfortable, based on the way her fingers are suddenly distractedly thrumming against the surface of the table. He sighs a little, slowly removes his hands from her face, and turns to go without another word. He’s not really sure why he’s disappointed; if anything, he should be relieved that she didn’t follow him - a complete stranger - out of the door because he has a habit of fucking things up and she doesn't deserve that—

“Wolfgang, wait,” he hears, and then he turns to see Kala standing next to him, her usual soft smile slowly reappearing on her face as she looks up at him. He meets her eyes, eyebrow raised, and she shrugs casually, though he can sense that she’s still a little nervous. “I’m pretty sure Lito would kill you if you tried anything,” she says eventually, eyeing him up, “I think I’ll be perfectly safe with you.”

He closes his eyes at that, momentarily wishes he was a better man so that he could tell her not to follow him; but he's not. He just purses his lips, tenses his jaw, and holds the door open for her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope this is okay! thanks for the kudos/comments!


	4. Chapter 4

Due to the fact that Kala, Riley and Will share an apartment with Lito, they’re all very aware that he has been seeing someone for the past few weeks and that it’s been going extremely well. It takes very little begging on their parts before Lito has introduced them to Hernando (grinning widely as he does it, gesturing at the man in question with a dramatic flourish), and through Hernando, they meet Dani. Kala approves of them both instantly: Hernando is expressive, soft-spoken and passionate, whilst Dani is lively, bright and full of an excitement that reminds her of, well, Lito himself. It’s not long before the two of them have integrated themselves effortlessly into their lives and coming home to see all five of them – Will, Riley, Lito, _Hernando and Dani_ – sprawled about in their shared living space feels normal.  
  
“Lito, Hernando and I were thinking of going to the salsa bar tonight,” Dani informs her one evening, her eyes full of excitement, as Kala flops herself down on the sofa beside her, tired from her lab. “You should totally come! Lito, tell her she should come!”  
  
“Kala, you should come!”  
  
She sighs in response, nestling her head further into the sofa, rubbing her eyes. She’s not sure how they have so much energy all the time and if she’s honest, she’s more than a little jealous of it.  
  
“ _Please_? ¿Por favor?”  
  
Kala doesn’t know whether that plea comes from Dani, Lito or Hernando, or all three at the same time, but in the end, they not only manage to drag her along with them, but Riley and Will as well. She lets herself relax a bit as they arrive at the bar, if only because she’s sandwiched tightly between Lito and Dani and their shared glee is contagious enough to make her feel a little reenergised. Lito immediately drags them to the bar and orders a copious amount of tequila shots (she takes one, then cuts herself off, ignoring the way Lito pouts petulantly at her; she has _class_ at nine o’clock tomorrow morning, thank you very much), then proceeds to push them all towards the dancefloor. He quickly gravitates towards the centre of the room, starts showing off some intricate moves using Hernando as his _assistant_ , and suddenly, they’re all dancing. She’s halfway between being spun by Dani towards Riley, when she notices that Lito is staring off into space. She follows his gaze, stumbling a little as she realises what – or, rather, _who_ – he’s looking at.  
  
“Come with me, sister.”  
  
“What?”  
  
Before she knows it, Lito’s got his arm around her shoulders and he’s tugging her towards the bar where a very familiar figure is standing, looking both completely at home as he leans casually against the bar, but also completely out of place amongst the colourful décor. She manages to squirm out of Lito’s grip after a few steps, though she continues following him, keeping herself just behind his body, hidden. She’s not entirely sure why she’s still heading in his direction, but she can’t quite bring herself to turn away. She watches silently as Lito greets Wolfgang, both taking a shot, and then struggles to stifle her laughter as Lito attempts to push him towards the dancefloor. Wolfgang shakes his head, (somehow) manages to resist, and then Lito’s gone and she’s left standing there by herself. He moves and sits himself down on a chair, beer in hand, and whilst she’s not sure whether he’s even seen her yet, she suddenly feels an overwhelming urge to talk to him, partly because there’s something _intriguing_ about him that some unidentifiable piece of her wants to understand and partly because it’s warm and crowded on the dancefloor and she could use a break from all the dancing.  
  
Wolfgang doesn’t respond to her attempts to start a conversation, just shakes his head at her silently, so she tries offering him a drink instead; but then he’s abruptly standing from his chair, claiming he needs some air and tells her she can join him. The offer takes her aback and she’s sure that fact is as clear as day on her face. It doesn’t take long before her mind starts working fast, her thoughts spiralling out of control before she can stop them: yes, she’s been seeing him every morning for the past week, but she doesn’t really know anything about him, except that he likes his coffee strong and black and he's not exactly much of a talker...so why would he want her to join him now? She can vaguely hear his friend hollering at them from the bar and—  
  
He stops her then, touches her face and tells her he’s not going to try anything, and his touch is gentle enough and his tone is earnest enough that she believes him. Besides, she thinks to herself, Lito is clearly enraptured with the man and that has to count for something, right? (She fleetingly wonders what _Rajan_ would think if he saw her now, about to follow an almost-stranger out of a club, but quickly pushes the thought away.)  
  
Once they’re outside, Wolfgang swiftly moves away from the entrance of the club and heads towards the side of the building. He pauses and leans against the wall as soon as they're away from the crowd of people lingering at the club door. Kala does the same, and they stand there in a comfortable silence for a few moments. She doesn’t mind at first – the bar was full of loud music and louder people, and it’s refreshing to feel the fresh air blowing on her face – but then the silence draws on for much longer and she starts feeling a bit… _cold_. She had borrowed a dress from Dani for tonight and it’s not exactly the most practical piece of clothing in the world; she had only agreed to wear it because Dani had insisted and because she hadn’t really been expecting to be spending much (if, any) time outside. Wolfgang seems to pick up on this, glancing at her furtively as she tries to suppress a shiver at the chills running down her spine, sliding off his jacket in one smooth motion and handing it over to her without saying a word.  
  
“Oh, no, don’t worry. I’ll be fine,” she tells him hurriedly, giving him a soft smile, but he shakes his head at her insistently and moves to drape it around her shoulders anyway. She hesitates, wondering whether she should shrug it off and give it back, but then she feels the warmth coming from his jacket starting to seep into her skin and relaxes, reaching up to tug it tighter around her. “Thank you,” she says, giving him a grateful look.  
  
They start to fall into a peaceful silence again and Kala leans her head back against the wall. She’s not really sure what she expected when she followed him outside but it definitely wasn’t this. This is…this is strange. She feels weirdly comfortable standing next to him, close enough that she can feel him shift as he breathes, and weirdly light, even though his jacket is weighing down on her shoulders. Kala grits her teeth slightly and tries to ground herself as her mind starts racing. His jacket is soft and warm and unusually heavy, and it smells of coffee, alcohol and _cigarette smoke_ all at the same time _._ She’s not sure she really wants to break the silence, merely because she doesn’t know what that will do, but she feels quite strongly about the latter scent and words are suddenly spilling out of her mouth before she can stop them:  
  
“Smoking’s a very bad habit, you know.”  
  
Wolfgang gives her an odd look and she wonders momentarily if she’s offended him (she’s well aware that _her_ bad habit is saying inappropriate things at inappropriate times; she can’t count the number of times she’s been chided for it by her family and friends). She opens her mouth to apologise, but then closes it and relaxes when she sees his lips quirk as if he’s trying to hold back a smile.  
  
“There are worse things in life,” Wolfgang tells her eventually, shrugging.  
  
Kala considers this, pursing her lips, but then… “That may be, but did you know that a single cigarette contains over four thousand chemicals, of which over sixty are known carcinogens? And that one in five Americans die from smoking every year?”  
  
“I’m not American,” he points out bluntly, one eyebrow raised.  
  
“That’s—that’s not the point! Smoking is bad for _everyone_ ,” she retorts heatedly, slowly crossing her arms around herself, then realises he’s teasing. “Wolfgang…”  
  
Wolfgang laughs softly, then moves in front of her, swiftly reaching towards her to pull something out of the pocket of the jacket – his jacket – she’s clutching around her shoulders. She forces herself to remain still and tries to ignore the feeling of his fingertips brushing against her side and the fact that she’s desperately holding her breath; even if she didn't feel this unmistakeable, undeniable pull to get to know him better, she's not blind and she's not stupid: he's clearly very attractive, in ways that are so distinct from Rajan, but also clearly very troubled.  
  
Wolfgang finds what he’s looking for quickly and presses it into her hands. She blinks at him in response, confused, but then bites her lip, knowing exactly what it is as soon as she feels the hard ridges of a cardboard box.  
  
“Keep it,” he says, with a shrug, “if it’ll make you feel better.”  
  
She frowns at him, twisting the cigarette packet she's now holding in her hands.  
  
“How do I know you won’t just go out and buy another pack?”  
  
He meets her gaze, takes in her indignant expression, and then grins widely at her. She thinks absentmindedly how much _younger_ and boyish it makes him look.  
  
“I guess you’ll just have to trust me,” Wolfgang tells her, still with a grin on his face. His gaze is intense as he speaks, to the extent that she finds herself flushing suddenly and looking away. His eyes are really very blue.  
  
A few seconds pass before she has the nerve to peek at him again and she realises he's smiling now, but it's more of a wry smile that she thinks is aimed at himself, rather than at her. It relaxes her, and she smiles up at him as she replies: "I guess so."

 

* * *

 

Wolfgang’s never been much of a talker; he’s always preferred to _listen_ , observe and think. There’s something about Kala though that makes him want to talk, whether it’s because of the way she thoughtfully bites her lip whenever he says something, carefully considering his every word, or because their lives are so very different that they have contrasting opinions on almost everything. It doesn't take long before she's managed to coax him into an actual, two-sided conversation, and he learns that despite her interest in science, she’s religious (“Gods don’t give a shit about us,” he tells her, biting back a smile as she twists to stare up at him, eyes incredulous. “I speak from experience.”), she prefers chai tea to coffee (“…but you work in a coffee shop?” He asks, raising an eyebrow. She shrugs, then proceeds to tell him about how taking the part-time job wasn’t exactly her idea in the first place, but a result of a scheme cooked up by Lito and her other friends. “Why didn’t you just quit if you never wanted to work there?” She doesn’t give a proper response to that, just frowns a little.) and her least favourite colour is black (He gives her an almost offended look at that, gesturing at himself and the clothes he’s wearing, but she just laughs, tugging his jacket tighter around her shoulders as she continues speaking: “It’s just so…dark.”)  
  
It’s easy to talk to her, he finds himself musing, dangerously easy. It also helps that she looks implausibly _good_ in his jacket, even though it’s much too big for her and she’s almost swamped by the material. He fights the overwhelming urge to tell her to keep it because _it's his favourite jacket_ and that would sound very weird, tensing his jaw and gritting his teeth instead.  
  
“What is Berlin like?” Kala asks, eyes curious as she glances up at him, one of her hands still fidgeting with the cigarette packet he had put there. “I’ve always wanted to visit Europe.”  
  
He purses his lips, shrugs, and hastily pushes down the pang in his chest that appears as her words make him start picturing his city: the people, the clubs, the beer. His life in Berlin is a complete fucking mess – always has been, probably always will be – but Berlin is still his home and he misses it.  
  
“It’s nice,” he ends up saying, and it’s vague enough that it makes Kala squint at him, narrowing her eyes.  
  
“Just…nice?”  
  
He doesn’t clarify, just shrugs at her again. He misses Berlin, sure, but he also doesn’t want to get drawn into a conversation about it with her because he knows that she’ll inevitably ask him some question he can’t answer entirely truthfully and he doesn’t want to be put in that situation; instead, he offers her a small smile and changes the subject back to her: “Where are you from? Your accent: it's not American."

"India. Bombay, to be specific," she replies, though she's still squinting at him, searching his face. 

Wolfgang shifts, tilting his head up so that he's no longer looking at her but at the sky, feeling oddly exposed under her inquisitive gaze.

"What's that like? I've never been."

“It’s _nice_ ,” she states with a stubborn emphasis, pushing his words back at him, and he’s split between wanting to laugh and curse in his head. In the end, he lets out a sigh, grits his teeth and leans back against the wall again, eyes sliding shut.  
  
“You don’t want to talk about it,” Kala notes quietly, and he slowly opens his eyes again to see her scanning his face attentively. A series of different expressions flash across her face, too fast for him to decipher, but she eventually settles on a look of understanding, her eyes completely void of judgement. He nods slowly, gives her an apologetic shrug.  
  
“I love Berlin, but it’s…complicated,” he tells her, and he’s grateful when she simply bites her lip, but doesn’t push any harder. She shifts towards him slightly until her shoulder is almost touching his arm, and he finds himself holding his breath, transfixed. She grins at him then, expression light, as she starts speaking again.  
  
“I wasn’t exactly truthful before,” she says, fingertips twisting themselves into the material of his jacket around her shoulders. He frowns deeply at her words, raises an eyebrow, his eyes tracking the movement of her fingers. “Bombay isn’t just nice, it’s _wonderful_.”  
  
Wolfgang relaxes, slowly closing his eyes again as her voice increases in both volume and pace, excitedly starting to tell him about her city. Her descriptions are vivid, so much so that he thinks he can almost _see_ what she’s describing to him – feel the sun on his face, smell the spices in the air – and he finds himself getting lost in his own imagination. He lets himself wonder for a split-second what it would be like if he was really in Bombay with her, allowing her to show him all the sights she’s talking about, before hastily pushing the thought away, gritting his teeth a bit harder and clenching his jaw. He laughs hollowly to himself as he imagines what Felix would say if he knew what he was thinking; he’d probably tell him that he’s fucking lost it and, if he’s honest, he wouldn’t be completely wrong. This, everything he's feeling, is really fucking weird.  
  
“—Kala, there you are. I was looking for you.”  
  
They both turn at the voice, and Wolfgang instinctively takes a step away from Kala as soon as he catches sight of who has spoken. The man approaching them is brunette, clean-cut and has that same innocent look in his eyes that Kala has. As he gets closer, the man glances between the two of them with an unreadable expression on his face, his eyes alert and observant as they take in the fact that Kala's got his jacket draped around her shoulders and she's holding a packet of cigarettes in her hands. Wolfgang squints at him and tries to figure out what he’s thinking, especially as the man quickly moves in between them, almost blocking him from view, placing both hands on Kala’s shoulders as he examines her face.  
  
“Are you okay?” He asks her, and Wolfgang swallows hard as he registers that the voice is low and steady and _protective_.  
  
Kala nods in response, shoots the man a gentle smile, and Wolfgang’s thinking out loud before he has a chance to stop himself: “Is this the boyfriend?”  
  
It comes out much harsher than he intended, but he realises immediately that he’s misread the situation as soon as the two of them exchange startled looks, clearly stunned by the suggestion. He feels the tension filter out of his shoulders and then mentally curses himself for even tensing up in the first place.  
  
“Um, no,” they both say, eyes wide. “We’re, uh, _no_. Just friends.”  
  
A beat passes.  
  
“I’m Will,” the man introduces himself, offering him a hand to shake. Wolfgang hesitates for a second, then takes it and is immediately surprised by how firm the man’s grip is – much firmer than is necessary – almost as if he’s trying to send him a message. He tightens his own grip a fraction in response.  
  
“Wolfgang.”  
  
Will nods at him, glances curiously at Kala as if he wants to say something more, but she shakes her head and he doesn’t.  
  
“Kala,” he says instead, “I think Riley and I are going to head back: do you want to come with us now, or are you going to wait for Lito? Lito’s still dancing; I don’t think he’s going to be finished any time soon. You know how he gets.”  
  
Wolfgang sees Kala glance at him surreptitiously through the corner of her eyes, her hands smoothing over the edges of his jacket that is still wrapped around her shoulders. He opens his mouth to tell her she should probably go home because it’s getting late, but he’s interrupted before he gets a chance.  
  
“Wolfie, Wolfie, Wolfgang, hallo! And beautiful Kala too! And—And other man, also very beautiful!” Felix calls out loudly, swaying slightly as he stumbles out of the door towards them, clearly intoxicated. Wolfgang smiles at the sight, about to ask him why he’s not accompanied by a girl (or, _girls_ ), but then he notices that Felix’s eyes are manic and twitching, and the look on his face is unfamiliar enough that it makes Wolfgang’s heart instantly drop. He’s seen Felix completely wasted more times than he can count, but he immediately senses that there’s more to this. He’s by Felix’s side in seconds, reaching forward to clasp his face firmly between his hands in an attempt to still him.  
  
“Hey, Felix, are you alright?” Wolfgang asks him, a frown slowly appearing on his face as a surge of adrenaline starts running through his veins. He can feel his heart thumping harder in his chest as he doesn’t get an answer; Felix just continues to glance frantically around the street, seeing but not really. “Felix, look at me,” he says lowly as he grips his face a bit tighter and tries his hardest to catch his drifting gaze. “ _Felix._ ”  
  
“Is he okay?”  
  
Wolfgang turns slightly to see both Kala and her friend staring at them; she’s biting hard on her lip whilst he’s slowly uncrossing his arms, but both of their eyes are filled with concern.  
  
“Do you need me to call an ambulance?” Will offers, stepping forward, looking uneasy as he watches Felix continue to squirm in Wolfgang’s grip, his hand already halfway to his pocket. “He looks like he’s in pretty bad shape."  
  
Wolfgang shakes his head immediately and shoots them the most reassuring smile he can muster – which, right now, he’s pretty sure is not very convincing – and then quickly throws one arm roughly around Felix’s waist, helping him to stand up straight. Before they have a chance to stop him, he hastily bids them goodnight, tersely tells Will to _take her home_ , and turns to leave: he has a bad feeling about Felix, and he really doesn’t want anyone, especially Kala, to be involved. They don't deserve that.  
  
Felix doesn’t say anything on the way back to the hostel and it’s very out-of-character and very unnerving. Wolfgang checks on him every few steps anyway (“Felix, are you sure you’re alright?” “Felix? Do you need to sit down?” “Felix, we’re almost there.”), his heart beating faster every time he’s met with silence. It’s only when they’re back in the hostel and he’s roughly shoved a glass of water and an aspirin into Felix’s hands that Felix finally acknowledges him, his eyes suddenly clear, all traces of intoxication temporarily fading away.  
  
“Someone was following me tonight,” he says slowly, his voice a little hoarse and a little dazed. “There was someone in the club.”  
  
Wolfgang swallows hard in response, then clenches his jaw. He’s suddenly itching for a cigarette, hands automatically reaching to pat his side, before realising a second too late that he gave his only pack away to Kala and she still has his jacket. He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes and feels his hands fold into fists purely by instinct.  
  
“You’re sure?”  
  
Felix swallows the pill, downs the water and nods.  
  
_Fuck_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks so much for reading - kudos/comments are much appreciated! :)
> 
> PS - I have not forgotten about Sun; she will be making an appearance in the next chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

For once in her life, Kala finds herself completely lost for words, her brain struggling to understand what just happened; one second, she was telling Wolfgang all about her beloved city millions of miles away, and the next, he was hurriedly bidding her goodnight with a haunted look in his eyes before quickly pushing his friend down the street. 

“Do you think we should call an ambulance anyway? I know he said not to, but his friend looked like he needed one.”

Kala blinks and glances over at Will who is standing next to her, his eyes still fixed on Wolfgang and his friend’s retreating backs. She purses her lips in response, her head tilted slightly in thought. She’s pretty sure Will is right and his friend probably should seek medical attention, but then she remembers how quickly and firmly Wolfgang had refused Will’s offer to call an ambulance. She’s had enough contact with Wolfgang now to know that there’s something going on in his life that he doesn’t want to talk about (“I love Berlin, but it’s _complicated_ ”), and she has a feeling that his reaction is connected to it.

“No, I—I think they’ll be fine,” she says eventually, giving Will a small shake of her head, though she’s not sure that’s really true. 

Will squints at her, looking like he wants to say something further, but he doesn’t. He breathes out slowly instead, then tilts his head towards the club door, shooting her a questioning look. Kala nods, slowly following him as he starts to move in that direction, but he stops her again before they enter the building, one hand gently tugging at her arm.

“Are you wearing his jacket?” 

Kala blinks, caught by surprise. She looks down at herself, remembers that she does still have it on, and then feels herself flush as Will slowly raises an eyebrow at her. She’s not entirely sure _why_ she’s blushing, but she is, and that realisation makes her blush even harder.

“Kala, just promise me you’ll be careful,” Will says softly. He patiently waits until she’s lifted her chin to meet his gaze, his eyes fixed on hers. “You and I both know that he’s either in a lot of trouble, or _is_ trouble himself.” 

She bites her lip, but nods slowly. Will studies her for a few more seconds, his eyes carefully scanning her face, before shooting her a reassuring smile and moving to open the door for her. She follows him inside, but shrugs off Wolfgang’s jacket as soon as she enters the vicinity, partly because it’s a lot warmer inside and partly because she knows what sort of comments she’ll get from the others if they see her in it. She’s thankful that by this point in the evening, none of them, bar Will, are perceptive enough to notice that she’s now carrying a leather jacket in her arms that she didn’t enter the club with, their senses dulled by a mixture of non-stop dancing and alcohol.

The only issue is, she’s not entirely sure what she's supposed to do with Wolfgang's jacket as she has no idea where he lives and has no way of contacting him. In the end, she decides to take it with her the next time she has a shift at the coffee shop, hoping he'll swing by so she can return it…except Wolfgang doesn't show up that day, or the next, or the day after that. She realises that she’s gotten _used_ to seeing him every morning, even if he doesn't say anything more to her than a simple ‘hello’ most of the time, and his absence makes her oddly anxious.

"Lito, can I ask you something?" She asks after a week has passed, trying to pitch her voice to sound casual. She doesn't think it quite works based on the bemused look Lito shoots her, but he nods at her to continue anyway. "Have you..." She pauses, purses her lips, before asking her question as fast as she can, almost stumbling over her words: "Have you seen Wolfgang lately?"

Riley and Dani overhear, both of them turning to raise their eyebrows at her simultaneously. They don't say anything though, and she says a silent _thank you_ to the heavens for the fact that Will had been the one who had found her outside the club that day with Wolfgang's jacket draped around her shoulders, rather than any of her other friends; she knows that if it had been anyone else, she would have never heard the end of it, even though there is _nothing_ between her and Wolfgang. He just…has a certain presence that's hard to deny.

Lito eyes her with interest and she forces herself not to look away or react. He hums to himself, muttering something underneath his breath, before eventually shrugging at her, shaking his head. "I haven't seen him," he says, "but I know he likes to run through the park opposite to the coffee shop in the evenings - maybe you can find him there?"

She contemplates going to find him that night, but in the end, she doesn't, remembering the troubled look in his eyes the last time she saw him and Will’s plea for her to be careful. She tries to convince herself that maybe this is for the best; he's clearly involved in something big and she's got enough to worry about already between upcoming exams and coursework for her programming lab that she really doesn't understand, even though Nomi's been patiently helping her with it.

After a week more of no sightings of Wolfgang, she stops bringing his jacket in with her to the coffee shop every morning and resigns herself to the fact that she might never be able to return it to him and might never see him again; she knows it’s completely irrational because all they’ve ever shared is a couple of short conversations, but she finds herself missing his presence. She's not quite able to bring herself to discard of his jacket, so she folds it up neatly, places it in the corner of her room, and tries not to think too hard about it. (His half-empty cigarette packet, on the other hand, is quickly disposed of). She throws herself into her studies, filling her days up with chemical symbols and mechanisms so that it’s all she has time to think about. If the others notice her shift in behaviour, they don't mention it, but she finds them bringing her steaming cups of chai tea more often and she's silently grateful.

It takes an imploring Lito, tickets to a movie premiere and _lots_ of begging before she breaks her routine. Dani’s managed to score three tickets to the premiere of the latest Kit Wrangler movie from her ex-boyfriend and wants Lito and Hernando to go with her because they’re all _obsessed_ with the lead actor, but Lito's supposed to be working the evening shift that night and he needs a cover. She tries to tell him that she has work to do, but he’s practically on his knees in front of her, pleading for her to cover for him, and she eventually sighs, nods. Lito grins at her widely in response, immediately pulling her into a tight hug, and she feels herself relax despite herself.

Thankfully, it’s a quiet night at the coffee shop with very few customers. She takes a textbook with her and works through a few problems in between serving people. She’s halfway through figuring out the retrosynthesis of the compound on the page in front of her when her phone rings, the harsh sound of the ringtone jolting her out of her thoughts and making her jump. She glances at the phone, her heart twisting a little as she reads the caller ID and registers the name on the screen.

“Kala, hello!”

“Rajan,” she greets, biting her lip slightly. His voice is both very familiar and not familiar to her at the same time and it’s a touch unsettling. There was a time when they used to speak every single day and spend the majority of their waking hours together, but now they hardly even speak over the phone.

“I can’t wait to see you,” she vaguely hears Rajan say to her over the phone, “I’m so very excited.”

She blinks.

"Wait, what did you say?"

"I can't wait to see you," Rajan repeats. "My flight should land at about nine o'clock in the evening next Friday."

She blinks again.

"You're coming...to San Francisco?"

There's a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, before she hears the sound of Rajan chuckling affectionately. "Yes, that's what I said. I finally managed to convince my father to give me two weeks off so I immediately booked a flight to come and visit you."

She bites her lip, closing her eyes. She’s been studying in San Francisco for almost three years now and Rajan has never visited her here; it’s not because he doesn’t want to (every time they manage to find the time speak to each other, he tells her how much he wishes he could be there with her, the _light of his life_ ), but he’s just very busy with all the work he has to do for his father’s company. Kala can’t quite picture having Rajan here with her in America and introducing him to her new friends, her university, the _coffee shop_ , and the thought makes her oddly nervous. She mentally chides herself for feeling this way as soon as she realises what she's thinking because there’s really no reason for it – she knows Rajan and she knows that he would take everything in his stride and charm everyone he meets – but anxiety starts to build up in her chest nevertheless. The fact that she doesn’t understand why she’s feeling this way makes it even worse.

"Aren't you excited?"

Kala bites her lip harder. “Yes, of course,” she eventually replies, though she’s not sure she really means it.

“Are you alright?”

She twists quickly as she hears the familiar voice, her heart already speeding up in her chest as she lifts her head up to meet his gaze: _Wolfgang_. He looks exhausted, his eyes bloodshot and his hair sticking up at all angles, but his gaze is alert and concerned as he scans her face. 

“—Kala? Are you there?”

"Yes, yes, I'm still here," she says into the phone, though she shoots Wolfgang a reassuring smile. She's weirdly relieved to see him again, even though he looks rougher than she’s ever seen him. He nods at her, looks like he wants to say something else, but then shakes his head and turns to leave. Before she knows what she's doing, she's reached forward, fingers circling around his wrist. Wolfgang glances at her, forehead furrowing.

"Don't go," she finds herself mouthing, and she waits until she sees him nod before she releases his wrist. He leans against the countertop, watching her silently, his expression unreadable. She’s not sure why, but after not seeing him for several weeks, she doesn’t want to see him leave just yet; no, first, she wants some answers. She takes the time to study his appearance in more detail as Rajan continues chattering away excitedly in her ear: his cheeks are flushed as if he’s just been running, he keeps glancing around the shop shiftily, his gaze never remaining in one spot for longer than a second, and his expression is just as troubled as it was that night at the salsa bar. 

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Wolfgang asks again as she hangs up the phone, his eyes slowly fixing themselves on her face, examining her expression intently. “Who were you talking to?”

She doesn’t answer; instead, she just moves to cross her arms defensively, leaning back against the counter. “Are _you_ alright?” She redirects, giving him a pointed look. “Where have you been?”

They stare at each other stubbornly, both refusing to speak until the other does. As the silence draws on, he slowly raises an eyebrow at her expectantly. She shakes her head at him, but then sighs, turning away from him slightly.

“I’m fine,” she says, mostly to the wall, before gesturing to her phone. “That was…that was my boyfriend.”

She gets no response and she twists back so that she can see his face. He’s frowning, deep in thought, but raises a questioning eyebrow at her as he realises she’s watching him. 

“You looked upset," he states bluntly, eyeing her curiously. His gaze slowly turns intense as they focus onto her face, blue eyes flashing, his expression unreadable. “Did he say something? Hurt you?” 

She laughs softly, shakes her head. “No, no, nothing like that,” she tells him. She swallows, biting her lip. “Rajan would never. He’s, um, he’s coming to visit next week actually.”

Wolfgang nods at that, looks like he wants to say something else, but he ultimately doesn’t; instead, he just runs a hand through his hair, messing it up even further. She follows his movements with her eyes, pursing her lips slightly, before taking the opportunity to ask _her_ questions:

“How’s your friend doing?”

Wolfgang frowns in response, clenches his jaw. "He's okay," he says, though Kala suspects that isn't the entire truth, based on the way his gaze has shifted from hers to the ceiling. "Don't worry about him," he tells her quickly, as she opens her mouth to speak again, "or me. We'll be fine."

She shakes her head slightly. He's obviously _not_ fine, but she doesn't know what she can do to help. "Wolfgang," she starts, "if you ever need—"

"—We'll be fine," he repeats, cutting her off.

 

* * *

 

Ever since the night in the salsa club, Wolfgang and Felix have been lying low. They switch hostels, checking themselves in using fake IDs and then stay cooped up in the room during the day, surviving solely on room service. It's only in the early hours of the morning when they allow themselves to step outside for some fresh air as it's quiet enough that they can hear anyone coming and dark enough to run and hide if they need to. They both try to conceal their emotions from each other, putting on brave faces, but Wolfgang knows Felix is secretly scared (he jumps every time a car passes and at every knock on their door, even when it's him that's ordered food), and Felix knows that Wolfgang secretly thinks that he somehow deserves this - a life on the run.

Their lives go on like this for about three weeks before Felix cracks. It's two o'clock in the morning and Wolfgang is sitting on a stool in the corner of the room, brooding, a gun stuck in his pocket, whilst Felix is leaning against the wall. "Wolfie," he says, trying to keep his voice as light as possible, but it ends up wavering anyway. "We can't hide out here forever." 

Wolfgang gives him a curt nod, but continues silently brooding, forehead furrowed.

"Wolfgang..." Felix tries again, "we need to get out of here." 

He turns at him then, meeting his gaze. "I know," he says finally, "I'm working on a plan."

Felix eyes him warily, moving to sit on the stool next to him. "Your plan better not involve people dying or things blowing up," he tells him, though he knows Wolfgang well enough to already know that it does.

Wolfgang just shrugs. "Let me deal with this," he says, avoiding meeting his eyes. "This has nothing to do with you."

"Wolfie..."

Felix doesn't get a reaction, so he lets out a sigh, reaches forward until he's got his face in between his hands, forcing him to make eye contact. "Wolfgang, hey, don't do that," he tells him, shaking his head at him disapprovingly as he has done a million times before. "We're in this together; you know that. Besides, I don't trust you not to get yourself fucking killed and I can't afford the rent on the shop all by myself."

Wolfgang cracks a brief smile at that, nods slowly. "I'm going to go for a run," he says, abruptly standing up, clapping Felix on the back. "Need to clear my head."

Felix nods, tells him to be careful as he pulls his hood over his head, and then he's outside. He's been switching up his running paths over the past few weeks, running through different parks, on different roads, through different neighbourhoods. He's been avoiding the coffee shop too because if there really is someone following him, he doesn’t want to bring them straight to Kala and Lito. He hasn't slept in days, his mind working in overdrive as he tries to figure out a way to escape from his current predicament, and he knows he must look like absolute shit but he doesn't really give a fuck.

“You’re nervous."

Wolfgang stiffens immediately, glances to his right and sees a Korean woman observing him almost clinically from her seat on a bench. He’s seen her a couple of times on his runs, both of them seemingly liking to visit parks at three o'clock in the morning, but they’ve never actually spoken to each other, just exchanged nods of acknowledgement. She eyes him up, her gaze perceptive, and somehow, he knows that she's been in his position before.

“Why are you nervous?” She asks, her tone detached, as she takes a drag from the cigarette she’s holding in between her fingers. He follows the movement with his eyes, itching for one himself. She gives him an expectant look, waiting for an answer, and he breathes out slowly, glancing around himself quickly before speaking. He knows that his uncle would have never sent someone like her to track him down – she's not only a woman, but she's clearly not Russian and is also not carrying a gun – and he has the odd sense that not only does she _understand_ but she can help.

“Someone’s been following me,” he says quietly. She doesn’t seem surprised at all, just gives him a nod as if it was the answer she was expecting.

“Police?”

He slowly shakes his head. "No; family." 

The woman nods again, tilts her head slightly. “If you need help…” She offers, with a shrug, taking another drag from her cigarette.

“I’m fine,” he tells her. They eye each other warily for a moment, but then she reaches in her pocket, pulling out a cigarette packet and then a lighter.

"Want one?" She asks, and Wolfgang nods before he can stop himself. He hasn't been smoking as much lately, his mind constantly replaying Kala's disapproving expression once she'd identified the scent of smoke on his jacket, but tonight, he's feeling particularly on edge after his exchange with Felix and he needs it. They smoke in a companionable silence, neither of them saying a word.

"I’m Sun,” she says, after a few minutes have passed, her voice slow and steady. “And you are…?”

He hesitates at first, but tells her his name anyway, if only because he’s slowly going crazy cooped up in the hostel with Felix and it’s weirdly freeing to have someone else to talk to, even if she’s a complete stranger. She nods at him again, and he’s about to get up to leave, but she stops him:

“If you ever need any information, I can get it for you. I have a very good contact.”

Wolfgang twists back to stare at her, eyebrow raised, slowly crossing his arms and adopting a defensive stance. She gives him a thin smile in response. "My brother murdered my father," she tells him bluntly, the edges of her eyes hardening as they stare at him, "I understand how...family can be." 

Wolfgang blinks, then nods, offering her the barest of smiles. He opens his mouth to refuse the offer, but then remembers how defeated and frightened Felix had sounded earlier and figures that at this point, he has nothing to lose. He would usually never rely on other people, preferring to deal with everything himself, but he's currently in a foreign city and he doesn't know anyone who could help him. He can't stay alive – can't keep Felix alive – like this. "Do you think you could find out if I'm really being followed? And if so, by who?"

Sun purses her lips, before nodding at him. "I'll speak to my contact. Meet me here in two days," she says, before slowly getting up from the bench and walking away.

Wolfgang blinks at her retreating back, not entirely sure what just happened, but starts to jog again after a few minutes. He's not really concentrating on where he's going, his mind consumed by his thoughts, and before he registers what's happening, he finds himself standing outside of the coffee shop. He allows himself to peek inside, wondering if Lito is there, but then tenses his jaw instinctively as he vaguely makes out Kala standing behind the counter, facing away from him. It's past three o'clock now, the shop is empty, and she's talking to someone on the phone. He doesn't know how long he stands there, staring, but suddenly she turns slightly and he catches the troubled expression on her face. He does a quick check around him to make sure there's no-one lurking in the shadows, and then buries everything he's feeling and walks inside.

Kala's surprised to see him again, he quickly realises, but she silently tells him not to go so he stays. He frowns as Kala's expression suddenly shifts again at whatever is being said across the phone line, biting her lip, her eyes downcast. He fights the urge to snatch the phone away from her and hang up on whoever's on the other end as she's clearly receiving some unwanted news; instead, he forces himself to remain still, motionless, breathing deeply and slowly.

It doesn't take long before he's found out that the person Kala was talking to was her boyfriend. She tells him he's visiting her next week, but she sounds so unsure when she speaks that Wolfgang can't help but feel mildly irritated, not just because of the reminder that she's taken, but because her "boyfriend" clearly can't be treating her that well if she's that worried about him visiting. He's never been much of a believer in relationships, especially after seeing all the fucked up marriages in his own family, but he senses that she is, and he realises that he wants a healthy relationship for her, even if he doesn’t really believe that they can exist. It’s…an odd thought, and it takes him aback, so much so that he doesn’t have the time to stop her from asking him about Felix and then offering to help him. He feels his heart twist in guilt at that, because _damn it_ , he really shouldn’t be here right now, indulging himself in a conversation with her, when he strongly suspects he’s being followed across San Francisco by his uncle’s men.

"I still have your jacket, by the way," she says, just as he’s about to excuse himself and get the fuck out of there before it’s too late. "It's at the flat though. Will you stop by here tomorrow morning? _"_

He doesn't give her a yes or a no; instead, he just clenches his jaw. "I don’t know,” he tells her honestly and then closes his eyes briefly as he sees her forehead furrow slightly in response.

“Wolfgang, just…stay safe,” she tells him softly as he shakes his head once and turns to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and there you go! hopefully that was alright.
> 
> kudos/comments appreciated as always! not sure when i'll have time to write the next chapter but harass me @wordofalullaby if i take too long...


	6. Chapter 6

In the end, neither of them show up in the coffee shop the next day. Kala returns back to the flat after her shift to see Lito, Hernando and Dani huddled together in the lounge. It's almost five o'clock in the morning now and she has class later in the day, but just as she's about to bid them goodnight and try to get some sleep, she catches sight of the shaken expression on their faces. The last time she had seen them, they had been brimming with excitement as they got ready to go to the movie premiere that Dani had scored tickets to from her ex-boyfriend and this is definitely not the sight that she was expecting to see when she entered the apartment. She immediately frowns, quickly walking towards them, all thoughts of sleep momentarily pushed out of her head.

"What happened?"

All three of them jump at the sound of her voice, clearly startled by her presence. They slowly turn to face her, and Kala instantly places a gentle hand on Dani’s shoulder as she sees the tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

“My ex, Joaquin, he's..."

She doesn’t finish her sentence, trailing off, biting her lip. Kala frowns at her, then glances at Hernando and Lito for an explanation; they just look at each other, shudder slightly, then sigh deeply.

"Her ex wouldn’t leave us alone," they say simply. “He still…”

“—He still wants me back,” Dani interrupts, her eyes suddenly hardening, now looking into the distance, just over Kala’s shoulder. “But I am never going back to him, he’s—” She pauses, swallows, a haunted expression flashing in her eyes that looks so unfamiliar and out-of-place on Dani’s face that Kala immediately tugs her towards her, sliding an arm around her shoulders. “I can’t go back.”

Kala tightens her grip around Dani’s shoulder, instinctively sensing that there’s more to the story than that, but she’s not willing to push Dani when it’s clear that it’s not something she wants to talk about right now. Dani leans into her, pressing her face into her neck for a moment, and Kala bites her lip as she hears Dani sniffling slightly. Dani’s expression is neutral and composed when she pulls away though, her eyes hard. She turns to Lito and Hernando and gives them a smile that almost passes as reassuring.

"Those things he said about you two… I’m really sorry. This is all my fault; I should have known he was going to make a scene like this." She shakes her head, a look of guilt forming on her face. Lito and Hernando quickly tell her it doesn’t matter, they don’t care, it’s not her fault, but Dani’s already speaking again, her voice getting increasingly louder, drowning them out. “I'll make sure he doesn’t come near you again; I won’t let him hurt you,” she tells them, and it’s firm and stubborn enough that Lito and Hernando reach for her, until all four of them are engaged in a clumsy, but meaningful group hug. They stay like that for a few minutes, finding comfort in each other’s company, but then Dani lifts her head up from her shoulder, glancing at her as if she’s only just realised she’s there and what it means.

"Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry. Kala, you should get some sleep; I don't want you to miss class.”

Kala shakes her head at her – and then at all three of them as Lito and Hernando both turn to her, wide eyed, echoing Dani's sentiments – and laughs softly. Class is important to her, sure, but she’ll always put her friends first.

"No, no, it's okay," she says, "I'll be fine. I want to be here.”

By this point, Will and Riley have woken up as well and it’s not long before all six of them are lounging on the floor of the living room. Dani slowly manages to tell them exactly what happened: how she thought she loved Joaquin at first until he turned possessive, abusive, and then how she'd managed to get away. She hadn't heard from him in almost a year and when he'd offered her tickets through a mutual friend, she assumed that maybe he'd gotten over it and had accepted the offer. Joaquin had stalked them all night though, declaring his love for her to anyone who would listen whilst simultaneously throwing homophobic slurs at Lito and Hernando that are so abrasive, so cruel that it makes Kala gasp in horror, Riley shake her head and Will clench his fists even though they weren’t there. Once she’s finished speaking, the room goes silent, though they all reach for Dani, wordlessly promising her that they’ll keep him away from her. They end up falling asleep on the rug, all curled up together, but none of them sleep particularly peacefully.

Kala doesn't manage to sleep well the night after either, her mind still trying to process what had happened to Dani. She hasn't known Dani for very long, but she knows enough about the girl to know that she has a good heart and it’s just so _unfair_ that the world could treat her like that— 

"—You're tired."

She glances up at the interruption, then smiles as she sees Wolfgang hovering by the counter. He's much earlier than he usually is and at this time of the day, the shop is still quiet, empty and peaceful. Kala takes a moment to scan his face, noting that he still looks terribly exhausted, but he somehow seems more relaxed than the last time she had seen him and it makes her heart lift a little.

"Yes, I guess I am," she slowly replies, giving him a small shrug.

"Preparing for your boyfriend's visit?"

She blinks hard at the unanticipated comment, opens her mouth indignantly to retort, but then she registers the teasing half-smirk, half-smile on his face and she decides to let it slide just this once.

"No," she eventually says, biting her lip as she remembers how shaken Dani, Hernando and Lito had been and still are. "It's...complicated."

Wolfgang frowns in response, running a hand through his hair. "I'm a good listener," he says, his voice low and steady as he fixes his gaze on hers, blue eyes flashing. She finds she can't look away, and she's not sure she really wants to either. "Try me."

Kala exhales slowly, trying to find the words to explain what's running through her mind. Wolfgang doesn't prompt her with words, just waits patiently, though he leans forward an inch until all she can really see is _him_ and it's enough to trigger her to speak. She starts to ramble, telling him about what had happened to Dani and what was said to Lito and Hernando; she fleetingly wonders why she's sharing all this information with him, especially as his eyes turn steadily darker, an almost dangerous expression slowly forming on his face as his hands clench into fists, but she suddenly finds she can't stop. 

"It's...It's terrible!" She exclaims as she finishes the story, "Dani is so, so sweet, but her ex sounds horrible! The things he did to her, the things he said to Lito and Hernando... He's not a good man."

Wolfgang nods in agreement. He opens his mouth a few times as if to say something but all that comes out is a string of murmured words in German. Eventually, he laughs darkly to himself and offers her a small shrug of his shoulders. "Some people are just born assholes," he says slowly. "The world would be better off without them."

Kala shakes her head. "No, I don't think that's true."

"No?"

She shakes her head again. "No," she repeats, this time a touch stubbornly, though her eyes soften as they register the slight furrow of Wolfgang's forehead as if he's genuinely stupefied by the idea. "I don't think people are born like that; I think everyone has the capability to be good if they want to be." 

Wolfgang tilts his head, clenches his jaw, his forehead still furrowed in thought, but then he's smiling wryly and she's not sure why. She shoots him a perplexed look, and his smile gets wider.

"What's so funny?" Kala asks, softly biting her lip as she meets his gaze. "There's nothing funny about this."

He doesn't reply, at least not to her question; instead, he leans forward, his elbows resting on the counter, his eyes darkening even more. "It's so...easy to talk to you," he murmurs, his voice so low that it's almost a whisper.  

Kala swallows hard at his words, her heart jumping in her chest, and she feels herself flushing hard as she takes an unsteady step back from him. There's a counter between them but his presence suddenly feels so close, so...there.

"I'm sorry," he says, though his eyes have now flickered to her lips as he speaks and they both know he doesn't entirely mean it. "I don't mean to make you..." She glances up, still blushing, as he pauses and swallows, his jaw clenching again. Her eyes track the movement without her telling them to, captivated by the shift in his muscles; bones. "...uncomfortable."

Kala eyes him silently for a few seconds, watching with bated breath as his gaze slowly moves from her mouth back to her eyes. His eyes are darker than she's ever seen them, but his expression is soft, almost peaceful, and it relaxes her. She quirks her lips at him, giving him a small smile before stepping towards him again. He leans forward in response, and suddenly she's reaching up to place her hands either side of his face, smoothing her fingertips over his jaw. Her eyes widen as she realises what she's doing – she can feel his jaw moving underneath her fingers as he breathes, the rough texture of his stubble, how he presses forward ever so slightly into her touch – but she can't find it in herself to pull away. She doesn't know why she's doing this, but it somehow feels...right. 

Wolfgang's eyes are on hers, his expression unreadable, but then she runs her fingers down his jawline again and his eyes flicker shut until she can't see the blue of his eyes anymore. She feels weirdly in control, even though she can't rationalise why she's doing what she's doing. It’s confusing: she’s always been a rational thinker, someone that trusts logic over emotions, but somehow logic seems to fly out of the window whenever she’s near him. What’s even more illogical is that she recognises this and _she doesn’t care_. 

"It's okay," she says softly, the words spilling out of her mouth without her really realising what she’s saying. "I think it's easy to talk to you too."

"Yeah?" 

"Yes."

 

* * *

 

Wolfgang doesn't know what he's done to deserve being in this moment – right here, in the coffee shop, with _her_ – but he's not going to question it either; instead, he allows his eyes to flutter shut, focusing on the feel of Kala's fingertips gently tracing his jaw, trying his best to commit the sensation to memory. It's a simple gesture, but it feels oddly intimate, almost exposing. He's not sure how long they stand there like that, her hands softly cupping his face, but he's grateful for every second. Her mere presence is somehow enough to distract him from all the shit going on in his life right now, and even though he knows he probably – _definitely_ – shouldn't keep coming back to her, he just can't stay away. Every time he tries, he finds himself back here. 

"Kala, hello! And your…your German friend!”

They both startle at the sound, Kala instantly whipping her hands away from his face and taking a hasty step back away from him, turning so she’s stubbornly avoiding his gaze, cheeks already flushing. He’s both mildly irritated at being interrupted, but also glad for it because her reaction is so over-the-top for what they had been doing that it makes him smile.

“Capheus, hello,” she greets, still steadfastly avoiding looking at him. Wolfgang grins, shifting so that he’s standing next to the other man and back in her line-of-vision again. He smirks as she meets his eyes and sighs, but she doesn’t tell him to leave so he takes it as a sign that she doesn’t really mind.

“How are you today?” Capheus asks, glancing at both of them.

“I’m good,” Kala says, though Wolfgang knows that isn’t remotely true, given what she had told him before. He slowly raises an eyebrow at her, but she just shakes her head almost imperceptibly at him, and he gives her a nod and doesn’t push it. 

“And you? I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.”

Wolfgang turns, then sighs inwardly as he slowly recognises the face, his arms crossing over himself defensively as he remembers the barrage of questions that he had gotten from him the last time they met. 

“Wolfgang,” he tells him, though he makes a point to keep his answers as short as possible to avoid being drawn into any unnecessary conversation. “I’m fine.”

This time it’s Kala’s turn to raise an eyebrow, and he shrugs his shoulders at her. He’s definitely not _fine_ and they both know it, but somehow being here makes him think that maybe he has a chance to be. It’s a dangerous thought, but it’s one that occurs to him anyway.

Capheus starts telling them about his morning so far even though neither of them explicitly asked him to, and he’s so optimistic and cheery that it’s both endearing and mildly frustrating. Wolfgang listens silently, though he’s not exactly listening to the story as such, but more listening to Kala’s reactions: her soft laughs, her gasps and the way she gently redirects Capheus whenever he starts going off on a tangent. As the shop begins filling up with its usual stream of customers and it gets riskier and _unsafe_ for him to be there, he gets her attention, quickly bids them goodbye, then turns to leave.

“Wait, Wolfgang, I have your jacket!”

He turns slightly, his mouth quirking as he suddenly sees Kala rummaging behind the counter before brandishing a familiar piece of clothing at him, a self-satisfied expression on her face. He takes it from her, shooting her an amused look as their fingers brush ever so slightly and she’s suddenly pulling her hands back to her side. He contemplates reminding her that she had been the one to touch _him_ earlier, but then figures that she probably wouldn’t appreciate the comment and doesn’t say anything.

“That jacket looks really cool on you,” Capheus tells him, his eye wide in awe as Wolfgang slides it on. “I’ve always wanted to be able to pull a leather jacket off, but it doesn’t quite work on me.”

Wolfgang shrugs at him, silently takes the compliment and then glances at Kala. She’s watching him silently, the expression in her eyes unreadable. “It looks much better on Kala,” he says, smirking a little, and waits until he sees her flush before he turns around to leave.

When he gets back to the hostel, Felix is waiting for him, exhaling a poorly disguised sigh of relief as he spots him in the doorway. “Where the hell did you go?” He asks as he pulls him into a hug, and Wolfgang scrunches his face in guilt because clearly Felix had expected the worst.

“Just…out,” he says, then gently pushes Felix back. “I’m fine.”

Felix eyes him warily, but doesn’t comment any further; instead, he moves towards the mini-bar, subtly ignoring the diamond-laden ice cubes stashed in the side, reaching for two beers. He throws him one, then salutes him. Wolfgang mirrors the gesture, but just as he’s about to take a sip, Felix points a finger at him accusingly.

“Don’t fucking disappear on me like that again,” Felix says. “You scared the shit out of me.”

Wolfgang closes his eyes briefly, then nods. He had slipped away this morning without telling Felix not because he had wanted to purposefully hide anything from him, but because he just didn’t know how to explain why he was going where he was going. He still doesn’t. All he knows is that for some unknown reason, he just _can’t stay away_.

Felix doesn’t bring it up again, knowing him well enough to not push him when it’s clearly not something he wants to discuss any further, and instead, they spend the rest of the day planning. They’re supposed to meeting Sun and her contact at around three o’clock in the morning for information, but they’re still not entirely sure if they should actually go or not.

“Do you really trust this…stranger?” Felix asks, his eyes wide as he stares at him.

Wolfgang shrugs, his brow furrowed, his thoughts being pulled in opposite directions: the rational part of his head is telling him not to trust her (he doesn’t know her, she doesn’t know him), but his instincts are telling him that she can help. In the end, he sighs deeply, slowly lifting his head to meet Felix’s gaze.

“We don’t have a choice,” he says, a little resignedly. “We have to go.”

Felix purses his lips, but then nods in agreement. He wordlessly moves towards the corner of the room, handing Wolfgang a gun which he silently pockets. They head towards the park at the early hours of the morning, Felix uncharacteristically remaining quiet the entire way. As they arrive to the bench where he had met Sun two days earlier, they hesitantly sit down, both of them watching out for any unexpected noise or movement, ready to run if they need to.

“Wolfgang, hello.” He turns to see Sun approaching them, another girl by her side. She gestures for them to stand up and follow them, and they move back out towards the main street where it’s busier and less inconspicuous. Wolfgang and Felix exchange glances as they stop, both of them noticing the security cameras now hanging above their heads, instinctively twisting their bodies so that their faces aren’t in their line of view. 

"I’m sorry about this, but I’d really rather meet in public," the girl next to Sun says. She’s not exactly what Wolfgang had pictured when Sun had told him she had a contact, but Wolfgang somehow knows from the look she's giving him that she knows everything; about his past, about his family, maybe even about what he did. She registers their movements though and waves a hand at the cameras. "Don't worry about those," she says, her voice nonchalant. "I can erase them afterwards."

Wolfgang turns to Felix, both of them raising an eyebrow at each other before—

"—This is fucking awesome!"

Wolfgang blinks as Felix’s voice echoes around them, quickly glancing in all directions, before reaching forward to grab Felix's arm, squeezing hard. "Felix!" He says, his voice quiet but firm. "Don’t draw attention to us." 

Felix squirms in his grip, trying to pull his arm away, but Wolfgang keeps hold of him until he nods in agreement. Once he’s released Felix, he slowly turns back to the girl again, giving her a pointed look.

“Do you have the information I asked for?”

The girl raises an eyebrow at him, pushes her glasses up. “I’m Nomi,” she says, her tone light, “Nice to meet you too.” Wolfgang just stares back at her, waiting, until she rolls her eyes, shaking her head. She reaches into her bag to pull out a folder, handing it over to him.

“As far as I can tell, it’s these three men,” she says, as Wolfgang opens up the folder, his eyes narrowing as he recognises one of them to be fucking _Steiner_. He leafs through the pages in the folder, quickly looking at the photos that Nomi has compiled, his mind already planning his next move.

"How do you know they're not following us now?" Felix asks, his eyes going wide as he also spots Steiner on the pages.

Nomi shrugs in response. "Trust me, they're not," she says, "I have people keeping tabs."

Wolfgang nods, then offers her a small smile. “Thank you,” he tells her, giving her a curt nod. “This is helpful.” He gives Sun a grateful look as well, and then starts to leave, pulling Felix behind him, but before he has a chance to take more than two steps, he’s stopped by Nomi speaking again.

“Just so you know, you should probably change up your running paths a bit more. They’re quite predictable.”

He frowns, slowly crossing his arms defensively. “I have been,” he tells her.

Nomi raises an eyebrow. "Really? Because I have images of you going inside the coffee shop on campus more than once this week. I mean, I know their coffee is good and all, but you really need to be more careful if you don’t want these men to find you. I also know someone that works there and I’d rather she didn’t get caught up in anything if, uh, _something_ were to happen."

Wolfgang doesn’t have time to process this information properly as Felix is suddenly tugging on his arm, then hitting him hard in the chest. He’s gaping at him, looking truly appalled, his voice low as he speaks in rapid-fire German. "Are you fucking serious, Wolfie?” Felix exclaims, eyes wide. “You've still been going to see that girl? Are you fucking insane? Is that where you were this morning?"

"I—no,” he starts to say, then reconsiders as Felix shakes his head at him in disapproval, clearly knowing he’s talking shit. “It’s not like that, okay?”

Felix squints at him, opening and closing his mouth a few times before just rolling his eyes and hitting him one more time for good measure. Nomi and Sun are staring at them with matching expressions of confusion on their faces, neither of them understanding a word that is being said.

"Uh, it'd be helpful if you two could, you know, speak in English," Nomi tries, but instantly closes her mouth again as both Wolfgang and Felix turn to stare at her.

"You’re a fucking idiot,” Felix tells him bluntly, first in German, then repeats it in English, though it’s not without a touch of affection. “If you get her shot, don’t blame me.”

Wolfgang swallows hard, clenches his jaw, then his fists.

“I won’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! :) kudos/comments appreciated as always.
> 
> (also yes this is turning out to be a very slow burn fic. sorry! :P)


	7. Chapter 7

The next few days pass by like a blur. Wolfgang is noticeably absent from her life again, but she doesn’t get the chance to mull over it for too long as she becomes increasingly distracted by Rajan’s imminent visit. They somehow manage to go from not speaking to each other in _months_ to speaking to each other every day, Rajan’s excitement at his upcoming trip crystal clear even over the phone.

“I can’t wait to see you, Kala,” he tells her eagerly, and she knows just from the tone of his voice that he’s grinning widely. She's still feeling a little anxious about him visiting her, but she convinces herself that it's just because they haven't seen each other in months and that it’ll be fine once he’s actually here. “I can’t wait for you to show me your university and the city, and meet all your friends!”

By this point, Lito, Will, Riley and the others are all aware of Rajan’s scheduled visit and they throw themselves into planning an over-the-top – and completely unnecessary, in her opinion – welcome party for him when he arrives. Will puts himself in charge of drinks (though ‘drinks’ to Will just means _cheap_ _beer_ so she secretly buys some juice and tea bags as alternative options), Riley busies herself making a perfect mix to play in the background, whilst Lito, Hernando and Dani sort out decorations.

“As much as I appreciate the effort, you really don’t need to do this,” she tells them when she arrives home after her lab one day to find the flat covered in streamers of all different colours. They shrug at her, continuing to hang up ribbons on every surface available as if she hadn’t spoken.

“We could all use a distraction,” they say, their smiles dimming slightly as they recall the whole fiasco with Joaquin and the endless phone calls from him that Dani is getting – and firmly ignoring – every day. In the end, she gives in to their plans, laughing softly as Lito steps forward and dramatically drapes a ribbon around her shoulders and then helps them hang up the rest of the decorations.

Kala picks Rajan up from the airport on Friday evening, hitching a ride in the bus that Capheus’ drives. At first, their conversation is stilted: Rajan’s clearly overexcited to see her and wants to know every little detail about her life, barraging her with a million questions at once, but she’s still trying to get used to the fact that he’s actually here in _San Francisco_ and her replies are uncharacteristically short. She only starts to relax once she introduces him to Capheus and they start chattering away, both of them clearly charmed by the other. By the time they reach the bus stop near her flat, she’s relaxed enough that she’s let him pull her against his side until she’s close enough to lean her head onto his shoulder.

“Thanks for the ride,” she tells Capheus once he’s stopped driving. Rajan quickly echoes the sentiment and Capheus turns and beams at them, waving his hand dismissively in their direction. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning?" 

Capheus nods in response, wishes them a cheerful goodnight, and then he starts to drive away. They start heading towards her flat but she pauses when she reaches the door, causing Rajan to stop walking as well, a perplexed expression slowly forming on his face.

“I should warn you: my friends, they’ve prepared a little…surprise.”

“A…surprise?”

Kala just shrugs at him, then bends down to unlock the door, throwing it open to reveal the colourfully decorated apartment, music already pounding loudly through Riley’s speakers.

“Come in! Come in! Please, come in!” Lito says loudly as he spots them, grabbing them both by the hands and tugging them into the middle of the apartment. “Everyone, look, they’re here!”

Kala blinks at him, then turns to Hernando, narrowing her eyes slightly. “He’s tipsy already? It’s only seven o’clock!”

Hernando just shrugs in response, smiling at Lito fondly. “He found some tequila,” he says simply, a statement that is quickly followed by Dani pushing a shot of said tequila into her hand. She starts lifting the glass to her mouth but before she drinks it, she suddenly remembers what this whole party is for and the fact that Rajan is standing beside her, looking bewildered at the situation he is in. She clears her throat, getting everyone’s attention. 

“Everyone, this is Rajan,” she announces, beckoning the others forward with one hand. “Rajan, this is Lito, Hernando, Dani, Riley and Will.”

“It’s nice to meet you all,” Rajan says, once he’s gotten their names straight in his head. They smile back at him and then they’re all climbing over each other to offer him snacks and drinks. Before she knows what’s happening, the five of them have made a circle around Rajan and have started asking him for as many stories as possible about her. Rajan, to his credit, manages to resist their pestering, giving them an easy smile as he speaks. (“Kala has never done anything _embarrassing_. She’s too smart for that,” he tells them, laughing as they collectively groan, expressions of disbelief clear on their faces. He meets her eyes and smiles at her, and she finds herself smiling back in thanks because they both know she’s done plenty of embarrassing things in her life.)

Kala steps into the kitchen momentarily to grab more drinks, followed by Will. “What do you think? About Rajan?” She asks, as she opens the fridge and pulls out a few bottles of beer and a carton of apple juice.

Will doesn’t reply, and she turns her head to see that he looks genuinely surprised at her question. He leans back against the counter, giving her a slow shrug of his shoulders, shifting on the spot uncomfortably as he realises that she wants an actual vocalised answer from him.

“Uh, he seems…nice."

“ _Nice_?”

“Well, yeah,” Will says, shrugging again. He eyes her then, his gaze suddenly observant, and it’s her turn to shift uncomfortably. “What did you want me to say?”

“Um, nothing," she replies quickly, then walks back out of the room before Will has the chance to press her any further. She’s not entirely sure why his answer bothers her, but it does. Rajan _is_ nice, a fact that everyone has drummed into her head ever since they started dating (“You’re so lucky that you have him,” her friends had told her, varying expressions of jealously on their faces. “He’s _perfect_.”), but sometimes she thinks that just…isn’t enough. As soon as the thought crosses her mind, she instantly squashes it, feeling immensely guilty for even thinking it. Rajan picks up on it immediately, taking one of her hands in his, squeezing it gently.

“Kala, are you alright?”

She nods in response, shooting him a reassuring look, and then throws herself into the rest of the party with enthusiasm as a means of distraction. It’s about three hours later when Rajan reminds her that he’d booked a hotel for his stay (“I know how small apartments in America can be, especially when you’re on a student budget,” he had said over the phone, and she’d breathed a quiet sigh of relief when she realised his intentions) and that he should probably head there and start unpacking his belongings. 

They bid the others goodbye and start heading towards the direction of the hotel, hand-in-hand. Rajan strikes up casual conversation with her as they walk, telling her just how lovely her friends seem and how homely her apartment is, when someone roughly bumps into her from behind, causing her to stumble forward.

"Watch where you’re going!” Rajan calls out angrily, quickly pulling her up with his hand, his eyes scanning her face for any sign of discomfort. She smoothes her hands over her clothes, gives Rajan a reassuring smile and then turns to look at the rapidly retreating figure: he's dressed head-to-toe in black with a leather jacket draped over his shoulders, and she's pretty sure she smelt a familiar mix of scents when he had bumped into her.

"Wolfgang?" She calls out, voice hesitant, then smiles instinctively as the figure spins around and she sees that her suspicions are correct. She holds her breath as she watches the recognition in his eyes as he meets her gaze quickly replaced by horror, her smile quickly dropping. Wolfgang glances up at the sky, swears lowly in German and then walks over to them.

"Follow me. Don't say anything," he mutters quietly, reaching out and tugging her - and by extension, Rajan - by the hand. He's not meeting her eyes now, his gaze switching between scanning the scene and glancing at his phone screen, clearly on edge. "Keep your heads down."

Kala resists at first, tries to pull away, but Wolfgang just tightens his grip and tugs a little bit harder. "Wolfgang, what's going on?"

Wolfgang hushes her, pulling her along the road and then ducking into a side-alley, his eyes fixed onto his phone screen.

"Wolfgang, what is happening?"

"Kala, love, how do you know this man? Are we in some sort of danger?"

“Shh, you're going to get us fucking killed if you keep talking," Wolfgang hisses, releasing her hand and moving to sweep the surroundings, his posture alert. Kala flinches at his harsh tone, taking a step back from him, biting her lip hard. Wolfgang exhales slowly as he turns around to face her again, shooting her an apologetic look, his features softening for a second. “Sorry,” he says, his voice hoarse. “Just be quiet. _Please_.”

Kala glances at Rajan and she’s gratified to see that he looks just as alarmed as she is. She knew that Wolfgang was in some kind of trouble but this is all too much; it's all too real. She can feel the panic rising in her chest, her breathing becoming unsteady, and she's halfway to hyperventilating when her mind registers exactly what he said before and she's suddenly speaking again, her voice shrill: "Killed? What do you mean ‘killed’?!“

Wolfgang closes his eyes briefly, then moves to gently place his hands either side of her face, mirroring the position they had found themselves in the last time she saw him. His hands are freezing cold and his fingertips are rough, but she finds herself leaning into his touch all the same. "Do you trust me?" He asks quietly, leaning in until all she can see is his face. She's vaguely aware of Rajan staring at them in confusion, but she's too busy trying to decipher the emotions flickering in Wolfgang’s eyes to react. She stares back at him, eyes wide, her heart pounding from the adrenaline. She's not entirely sure that she does trust him right now and that thought is terrifying to her. "I promise I'll explain everything later, but I need you to trust me right now. Please.”

Kala bites her lip in response, taking in the desperation and urgency in his voice, but she eventually nods. Wolfgang shoots her a grateful look and slowly drops his hands from her face, though he lets his fingertips linger a touch longer than necessary on her cheeks. He glances at Rajan then, as if he’s just noticed that she’s not alone, sweeping him up and down, his gaze intense enough that she feels Rajan shift uncomfortably beside her. Rajan’s quick to recover though, moving to slide an arm protectively around her waist, tugging her away from Wolfgang and against his chest, a neutral expression on his face. She lets him, ignoring the way she sees Wolfgang’s eyes hardening again at the gesture, forcing herself to focus on her breathing instead: _it’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay…_

Kala’s not exactly sure how long they stand there, all three of them crouched in the alleyway, varying levels of alarm on their faces, but then Wolfgang checks his phone, reads the message on the screen and visibly relaxes.

“Coast is clear,” he says simply, shrugging his shoulders casually at them as if it's something he says every day. She narrows his eyes at him, her heart still working much harder than normal. “Come, I’ll walk you home." 

Rajan raises his eyebrows in response, moving to stand in front of her, almost blocking Wolfgang from her view. “No, I don't think that's wise," he says coolly, his posture outwardly calm, though she can detect the slight hint of fear still in his voice. "I don't know who you are or what kind of trouble you're in, but you're not dragging Kala into it any further. I think you’ve already done enough." 

Wolfgang shakes his head, slowly crosses his arms, the colour in his eyes intensifying by the second. "This is non-negotiable," he says firmly. "I'm walking her home."

Wolfgang and Rajan stare stubbornly at each other, and she's just about tell them both to step down when she hears a familiar voice behind them ("Wolfie?"). Wolfgang turns his head, calls out quickly to his friend, and then before either of them has a chance to react, he's reached forward to pluck a pen out of Rajan's shirt pocket. He gently tugs at her hand until he's holding it in his and quickly scrawls down a line of numbers onto her skin. She can faintly hear Rajan protesting from beside her, but all she can think about is that his handwriting is precise and to the point, but ever so slightly rough around the edges.

"Just call me later, okay? I need to know that you're—” He doesn’t finish the thought, shaking his head at himself. “Just call me."

Wolfgang doesn’t wait for her to reply; instead, he just holds her gaze for a moment, his expression unreadable, and then he turns and jogs away from them without another word.

 

* * *

 

Felix and Wolfgang spend days analysing the folder of pictures that Nomi had compiled for them, both of them feeling reinvigorated despite the fact that neither have slept in over twenty-four hours. After weeks of uncertainty about whether they were being followed or not, it’s a relief to have a concrete answer, even if it’s not the answer they were hoping for.

“We need to get rid of the diamonds,” Wolfgang says matter-of-factly, cocking his head towards the mini-bar. “If Steiner’s here, then he knows we still have them."

“Why is it _always_ fucking Steiner?” Felix asks, his voice close to a wail, pulling a face. Wolfgang shrugs, taking a gulp of his beer. "How are we going to get rid of them? We don't know anyone here."

In the end, they reach out to some trusty contacts they still have back in Berlin, swear them to secrecy, and eventually manage to get hold of a list of potential buyers in San Francisco. They’re in the middle of walking to an initial meeting with one of them, the diamonds hidden in a small cloth bag in his jacket pocket, when his phone buzzes in his jeans:

**Received 10.50 PM - Unknown Sender**

_There's a man following you._

**Received 10.51 PM - Unknown Sender**

_Split up. We'll help you lose him. We've got eyes on everything._

Wolfgang swallows, instantly knowing who the 'unknown sender' is, glancing around himself furtively and then silently passing the phone over to Felix. Felix reads the message, purses his lips, but then slides his own phone out of his pocket, its screen also lit up with messages. 

"Wolfie, do you really think we should split up?"

Wolfgang tilts his head in thought, but before he has a chance to come to a decision, he hears the sound of approaching footsteps and his phone vibrates again. 

**Received 10.51 PM - Unknown Sender**

_Go! Now!_

Wolfgang stares at Felix, tilting his head purposefully towards the passage to their left. "Stay safe," he tells him as he claps him on the shoulder and then he pushes him firmly in that direction. Felix starts moving, glancing back quickly to nod at him, and then he's gone.

**Received 10.52 PM - Unknown Sender**

_Go straight and take the second right._

Wolfgang follows the directions that Nomi gives him, moving as fast as possible and trying his best to avoid making eye-contact with any of the people still out on the streets enjoying their evening. He’s so focused on his task that he ends up walking straight into a woman, almost knocking her down. He mumbles a quiet apology as he passes, but continues walking. 

"Wolfgang?"

He stops dead, slowly turning around, dread pooling in his chest as he sees that the person he had bumped into is Kala. He's not usually one to feel afraid in high-stakes situations like the one he’s currently in, accustomed to the feeling of being hunted, but he's suddenly terrified. He reaches for her, quickly tugging her along with him, blocking out the sound of her protests as he moves his focus back onto his phone screen. Out of all the people in San Francisco that he could have possibly bumped into tonight, it had to be _her_. Of fucking course.

"Wolfgang, what is happening?"

"Kala, love, how do you know this man? Are we in some sort of danger?"

He pauses then, suddenly registering the fact that she’s not alone but instead with a man; a man who is holding her other hand, their fingers interlaced. Before he can stop himself, he’s snapped irritably at them both and instantly regrets it as soon as he sees Kala recoil away from him, looking genuinely terrified (by _him_ ). Eventually he gets them both to stay quiet, gets Kala to trust him though she probably shouldn’t and leaves once it’s safe again, his number scrawled onto her arm.

“Wolfie, was that the _coffee shop girl_?” Felix asks, once they’ve been reunited and swiftly moved away from the alleyway. “What the fuck?”

Wolfgang shrugs, shakes his head and does his best to keep his eyes facing forward. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he says. If he’s completely honest, he’s furious with himself: the very last thing that he wanted was for Kala to be exposed to any of his past and somehow he had managed to land her right in the middle of it and also _scared the shit out of her_ at the same time. Sure, maybe it wasn’t his fault that he was being followed tonight, but none of this would have happened if he hadn’t been so selfish when it came to her, constantly going back to see her even though he was certain that it wouldn’t end well. Felix knows him well enough to avoid bringing up the topic again, silently handing him a bottle of beer once they’ve returned back to the hostel. He takes it from him, exhales deeply, before popping it open and taking a sip.

“We’re safe, Wolfie,” Felix says, clapping him on the back, then pulling him into a half-hug. “We’re _okay_.”

Wolfgang shrugs, allows Felix to hold him for a second more, before shrugging him off. “For now,” he replies, his lips quirking slightly as Felix rolls his eyes at him. They drink their beers side by side in silence until his phone rings from where it’s lying on the table, the ringtone unnervingly loud in the quiet room. Felix grabs it before he can, his eyebrows raising high as he reads the caller ID. 

“It’s another unknown number,” he says, eyes wide. “This is fucking crazy.”

Wolfgang takes it from him, presses the answer button despite Felix’s protests, and is pleasantly surprised when he hears Kala’s voice on the other end. He had told her to call him once she had arrived home, but he wasn’t particularly confident that she actually would given the situation that he had dragged her into and the fact that she had been accompanied by what he assumes is her boyfriend.

"Wolfgang?"

"Hi," he says slowly. Felix is eyeing him curiously, his eyebrows rising higher by the second. He shakes his head at him, shoots him a reassuring smile, and then moves towards the other side of the room, the phone clutched firmly against his ear. “Are you okay?" 

"Yes," she replies, her tone uncertain. "...And no. What was that today? What's going on?"

He doesn't reply, exhaling slowly.

"Wolfgang, you said you'd explain," she reminds him adamantly, and he can’t help but smile slightly at the hint of frustration he can already sense in her voice. "You promised." 

He exhales again, lifting the bottle he’s holding in his other hand to his lips, taking another sip of his beer and letting his eyes flutter shut. Her boyfriend was right earlier: he’s already dragged Kala into something she should not be anywhere near and the last thing he’s going to do is make things worse and tell her why he’s in San Francisco and why he’s being hunted.

"You’re not planning on explaining anything to me, are you?” Kala asks, realisation slowly creeping into her voice, and if he focuses, he can almost picture the indignant expression he’s sure is on her face. “Wolfgang, I want to understand,” she continues stubbornly, “I want to understand _you_.”

He laughs hollowly at that, shakes his head even though he knows she can’t see him. “No, you really don’t,” he tells her, his eyes still closed. She falls silent, and all he can hear is the sound of her steady breathing on the other line. It’s oddly soothing, and before he knows it, he’s opened his mouth to speak again. “Look, I'm not a...good person. You’d be better off just forgetting about me.”

A beat passes, then two.

“You _are_ a good person,” she murmurs.

Wolfgang chuckles lowly, jaw tensing, his heart twisting painfully in his chest at her words. “You can’t possibly know that,” he tells her, his mind flashing back to the diamonds he’s stolen and the men he’s killed; sure, maybe he had done all those things as a means to survive, but he still did them all the same. “You barely even know me.”

“Maybe I don't know everything, but I know enough,” Kala says, and her voice is firm enough that he slowly opens his eyes again, his hands gripping the phone tighter against his ear. “You might not believe it, but you have something good hidden inside of you,” she continues. “That day in the coffee shop…you didn’t have to help me, but you did.”

Wolfgang doesn’t reply, knowing in his heart that one short encounter in a coffee shop definitely does not make up for all the terrible things he’s done in his life; instead, he just sips his beer silently, one hand holding the bottle and the other hand clutching his phone to his ear, just listening to the sound of her even breathing. Despite everything, he’s comforted to know that she believes that he’s a good person, even though he doesn’t believe it himself.

He’s not sure how long they sit there in silence but all he knows is that he’s halfway through his third bottle of beer when he hears Kala shift on the other end. “I should probably go,” she says slowly, her voice hesitant. “It’s late.”

He nods, then remembers that she can’t see him. “Okay,” he says, then adds "tell your boyfriend I say hi" before he can stop himself, unable to resist teasing her when he’s still running on adrenaline. He chuckles darkly as he hears her sigh on the other end in response.

"Rajan’s not here,” she tells him after a beat, and then continues speaking before he has a chance to process this piece of information properly. "He thinks you stole his pen. He thinks you're some kind of thief.”

Wolfgang laughs humourlessly at that, taking a hasty gulp of his beer, because it's closer to the truth than she knows. "Maybe I did steal it," he replies, keeping his voice light as he pulls said pen out of his pocket and twists it in his fingers, examining it with renewed interest. He didn't intentionally pocket it, but it _is_ a nice pen; in fact, he's certain that it's the nicest pen he's ever held in his hands. "It looks expensive. Very fancy."

"Wolfgang—"

"—He's welcome to come and get it from me," he says, unable to keep the smirk from appearing on his face.

“ _Wolfgang_."

He pauses.

“Sorry,” he says, though he doesn’t really mean it.

She sighs again.

"Goodnight, Wolfgang."

She doesn't hang up though, and he fleetingly wonders if she waiting for him to reciprocate and bid her goodnight back. "I'm sorry for today," he murmurs instead, "I wanted to keep you away from this."

"I know,” she says quietly, “but you didn't.”

And then the line goes dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos/comments appreciated as always!


End file.
